Friends in Metropolis
by ANNAFLORINDA
Summary: Life in Metropolis. Mainly Clark/Lois. Chloe, Oliver, Lex and Kara live in Metropolis. Clark and Lana, who are married, move to Metropolis, and Lois, who has had feelings for Clark since she was 16 turns up. What will happen in terms of their relationships? Pairs:Clark/Lois, Chloe/Jimmy,Oliver/OC. This story in completely AU and the characters relationships will be explained.
1. Chapter one: Old faces, new places

Chapter 1: Old faces and new places.

Metropolis was a very busy city for most of the year, but when it came to the Summer holiday, the word 'busy' did not cover the hub and chaos of the city.

Chloe Sullivan made her way through the crowded streets to a café, where she was meeting two of her friends: Kara Kent and Lex Luthor. Kara and Lex were both two years older than Chloe, 26; Lex was a billionaire and Kara was a police officer. Chloe worked as a journalist at 'The Daily Planet', where she had worked for the past five years, after having an internship in her last year of university. Chloe, like Kara, was originally from Smallville, but she had moved to Metropolis to attend Metropolis University, from which she had graduated three years previously. Chloe's friends, Clark and Lana Kent had also attended that university, but they were also two years her senior and lived in Smallville.

As Chloe entered the café, she saw Kara and Lex and went to join them, though she felt as if she were intruding; Kara and Lex had always had a connection between them, one which Chloe nor Clark could describe. "Kara was just telling me that she broke up with that photographer." Lex informed Chloe, with a slight smile.

Chloe sat down and stared at her friend. "The one who worked at 'The Planet', Jimmy, right? Why, I thought you liked him?"

Kara sighed and rolled her head from side to side; she was a very dreamy person. "I guess, he and I just weren't right for each other. Besides, I didn't love him and he didn't love me, so what's the point?" She smiled and added, "I'm sure that my Mr. Right will be coming along very soon-sorry, Chloe, now I'm sounding like you." Out of all of their friends, it was Chloe who knew what she wanted to do with her life: she wanted to be a famous, good journalist, then she wanted to marry, settle down and have three children-she had even picked out the ideal names for her children and all of her friends knew it.

In response to Kara's remark, Lex added, smiling at Chloe, "I don't think that's a bad thing-knowing what you want, I mean, Look at me: I'm the Chair CEO of LuthorCorp, I business which I share with both of my parents and I have no idea what I want to do with my life, so having a bit of direction isn't a bad thing." He and Chloe had known each other since Chloe had been 16; both she and Kara had met him because he had been Clark's friend.

"Thanks, Lex, but I don't think I'm ever going to get what I want, considering I've never had a boyfriend."

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Kara's brother, Clark, and his wife, Lana. Chloe and Kara stood up and embraced the two new-comers. When they had been greeted by them, Lex stepped forward and hugged Clark and Lana. The two of them had been together since they had been 16 and they loved each other very much.

As they sat down, Kara asked her brother, "What brings you guys here?"

Clark and Lana shared a smile, before the latter replied, "Well, we have decided to move to Metropolis. That's why we're moving now, so the boys can get settled in the new school year."

"What do Lewis and Matthew think about that?" inquired Lex. Lewis and Matthew were Clark and Lana's 5-year-old sons and they were all very fond of them; Lewis was named after Lana's dad, who had died when she had been 3, as her mum had.

Clark sat down next to his friend and replied, "They're thrilled. They're still with Mum and Dad at the moment, until we get settled in. We're taking a house near to why you guys all live."

"Clark, Lana? What are you two doing here?" Clark turned around to see his friend, Oliver Queen, walking over to them. The two friends embraced, then Oliver sat down next to Chloe and asked, "What are you guys doing here?"

"We're moving here," replied Lana, "the boys are excited about being closer to their godfather."

Clark had met Oliver Queen at university. Oliver was the head of Queen Industries and he had inherited following his 21st birthday, after both he, Clark and Lana had graduated from Metropolis University. After this, Oliver had stayed in Metropolis, but he and Clark had remained good friends and he was the godfather of Clark and Lana's sons and he saw them regularly. Like Clark, Lana and Lex he was 26. He was friends with Chloe and Kara. He and Lex were civil with each other, but there was obviously some unpleasant history between the two of them.

The T.V in the café was turned on and it showed an interview which Lex had done a couple of weeks ago; Queen Industries and LuthorCorp were rivals and one of the advantages LuthorCorp had was that Lex, his father, mother, stepmother and half-sister were all willing to speak about their personal lives and about their past, whereas Oliver did never spoke about that.

The interview, a woman named Tilly Glen, asked Lex the first question, "So, Lex, tell me about where you were born, your childhood, your parents, anything?" As that question was asked on TV, Lex made eye contact with Oliver and smirked at him, before turning his attention back to the TV. Oliver just rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath.

On TV, Lex replied, "Well, I was born in Metropolis. My father, Lionel, had married my mother, Lillian, about a year before my birth and I guess they were ready for a child. I was cared for by a nanny, who's now my step mum and I was very fond of her, as well as my own parents. My father would always take me on business trips and my mother would always find time for me and I always had Pamela. When I was 9, I was blessed with a baby brother, but sadly, he passed away and my mother became very ill, mentally, so Pamela was mostly in charge of my care." He smiled at the camera before continuing, "When I was 12, my mother discovered that my father and Pamela had been having an affair for the past 12 years and they got divorced and shortly after this, my father married Pam. I attended Excelsior Prep, a boarding school, but I saw my parents very often."

"What can you tell us about your half-sister, Lex?"

"My sister, Tess, was born months after me; after my birth, my father and Pamela began their affair. I never met Tess until I was 20 and I believe that she believed that her father had abandoned her and her mother before her birth. We've met and we have a very good relationship and that relationship is easier, considering her mother is now married to my father."

The interview continued in such a way and both Chloe and Clark could tell that Lex's smug attitude was annoying Oliver every single second. When it was over, addressing Lex, he asked, "How can you be so blesse about the fact that your father cheated on his wife, your mother?" There was a cutting tone to his voice which the others did not like and they were worried about how Lex was going to respond.

Before he could, however, a young woman with dark hair walked over to the group and addressed, "Chloe. Chlo, I'm so glad that I've found you!" Chloe's cousin, Lois Lane, pulled her into a tight hug, but Chloe felt her body stiffen as Lois noticed Clark; she had met Clark when she had been 16 and since then, she had had very strong feelings for him. Clark had had feelings for her also, but he had been dating Lana and had never thought of Lois in that way, as they had always been great friends. Lois had managed not to attend Clark and Lana's wedding, by claiming that she had to study, which had been a lie, but one which she had willingly told.

The two cousins parted and Lois sat down next to Clark. "Lois, aren't you supposed to be getting married soon?" Oliver asked; he had known Chloe and Lois since they had been 16.

Lois shrugged. "Well, yeah, A.C and I are supposed to be getting married. I mean, we asked me a year ago and I said 'yes', but I've had a change of heart, so I left him."

"Does A.C know?" Chloe asked; she knew that Lois's fiancée loved Lois very much and she did not want to see him hurt.

"Yeah, he knows. We talked about it last night and then I told him that I needed space...and that I couldn't marry him, or be with him, for that matter."

Frowning, her cousin asked, "Lois, I thought you loved him. What happened?"

For a second, Lois's eyes fell on Clark and their eyes met. This exchange was not missed by Lana, who had known of Lois's feelings for her husband for years. Lois tore her eyes away from Clark, hoping that no-one had noticed, but everyone had, but Clark. "Well, I realised that I don't want to spend the rest of my life with him. I need to call my dad and tell him. I was thinking of going to stay with Lucy in France, but I thought I'd come here first."

"Lois, we'd be happy to have you here in Metropolis, with us." Clark smiled, addressing Lois directly. When she looked confused, he added, "Lana and I are moving in Metropolis, with the boys."

"Wow, I thought you'd never leave Smallville." Lois then turned her attention to Lex, whom she had never met before. "I feel as if I know you somehow, but I don't know how."

Lex smiled, then replied, "I'm Lex Luthor. My father, mother and I run LuthorCorp."

An awkward silence followed and Oliver gave Chloe a look, showing that he wanted an explanation and that reminded her that he had not been with them in Smallville, so he did not know the history between Clark and Lois, as she knew that Clark would not have told him.

Sensing the tension, Kara sprang up and took Lois by the arm. "Lois, how about I take you up to Chloe's flat and we can help you settle in and the others can help?" Chloe handed her the keys and they left followed by Clark, Lex and Lana.

As soon as the door was closed, Oliver inquired, "So, what's the story behind that? Your cousin didn't marry her fiancée because of Clark, but he's married? Clark and I have been friends for years, how come he's never mentioned that he and Lois dated?"

"Because they didn't." Chloe took a sip of her coffee, before explaining. "When Lois and I were 16, Lois moved to Smallville and lived with me and my dad. She met Clark and she fancied him, but he was with Lana. Clark had feelings for her, too, we all knew it-even Lana-, but he saw Lois as a friend and never considered that maybe she could be anything more. When Lois and I were in our last year of school, Clark and Lana got married-I went and so did you, but Lois couldn't, because it was too painful-she still hadn't got over Clark. Then, she went to university in Gotham and dated Arthur; he was her first boyfriend and I think a reason why their relationship progressed so quickly was that she wanted desperately, to get over Clark and move on with her life. We all knew that Clark felt the same way, but he never occurred to him."

After being silent for a moment, Oliver asked, "Does Clark know? About Lois's feelings for him?"

Chloe shrugged. "If he thought about it, maybe, but I don't think he's ever given it a second thought and now she's back and she'll be staying here for a while." A smile spread across Chloe's face and, teasingly, she remarked, "You like Lois, don't you? Why don't you ask her out?"

Her friend shook his head and chuckled slightly. "No. No, she's only just ended her relationship with her fiancée and they may still get back together. Besides," he added, "I would never stand in the way of a chance for something to happen between her and Clark."

"Nothing is ever going to happen between them: Clark's with Lana, and they love each other."

Shaking his head, Oliver retorted, "How many people stay with their first love? Think about it, Chloe, not that many."

"I wouldn't know; I've never had a boyfriend." Chloe whispered, as she looked down at her hands. Oliver sighed, rubbed her shoulders affectionately, then left the café and went to Chloe's flat-or what was now Chloe and Lois's flat.

Half an hour later, most of Lois's stuff was unpacked into what had formally been Chloe's spare room and before that, it had been Kara's room, when she had lived there. They were now having lunch at the table, apart from Lois, who was trying to contact her father, General Sam Lane.

Finally, she managed to get through to his mobile phone. "Daddy? Daddy, listen, I left A.C….. I left him because he isn't the person with whom I want to spend my life and I have to trust my gut. I'm with Chloe and, yes, I'll get a job. Don't worry about me. Ok. Bye, Daddy." She hung up, then collapsed onto the sofa next to her cousin. Chloe put her arms around her and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Like crap." Lois replied, as she stood up and asked, "Can I have some of this food?"

Chloe laughed and replied, "Lois, you live here now, of course, you can have the food which is on the table."

Lois helped herself, then asked, "So, Clark, Lana, what do you guys do for a living now?"

Clark smiled, glad that Lois seemed a bit more like her old self. "Well, I'm a journalist and Lana works for the Isis Foundation, part-time, because of the boys."

"Who's going to take care of the farm whilst you're here?"

Smiling, Lana replied, "Well, Clark's mum and dad still live in Smallville, so they can take care of the farm, obviously." Lana's voice was quite cutting and the tension in the room increased.

Clark sighed and, feeling incredibly awkward, asked, "Hey, Lois, how about I show you around our new house? And, Oliver, you haven't seen it yet, so you can come too."

Knowing that Clark was doing this in order to get away from his wife, who was in a very strange mood, Oliver nodded and grabbed his coat.

As soon as the door to the flat, was closed, Kara asked, "Lana, are you ok? You seem a little…on edge?"

Lana rubbed his temples. "Yes, I am. I'm sorry. I guess, moving is very stressful."

"So, it wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that Lois is back?" Kara asked, her eyes connecting with her sister-in-laws for the first time. Lex stood up and walked into the kitchen; he didn't know Lana very well and did not want to be involved in this conversation.

Lana stared at Kara, then at Chloe, then asked, in a very false voice, "Why would Lois being here bother me?" When neither of them gave her an answer, she sighed. "Do you think I'm jealous of her? Why would I be? I'm married to Clark! I'm wit Clark. I've been with him for ten years-she has never been with him and there's no way that Clark would ever feel that way about her!"

Deciding to voice her opinion, Chloe asked, "Lana, I know that you're not that naïve. At school, you must have seen the way that Lois and Clark acted around each other and that was both of them. Both of them."

Standing up, Lana whispered, "Clark is my husband and he means more to me than you know. He would never betray me and there's no way that he will ever fall for Lois!" With that, she walked away. Once out of the sight of Chloe and Kara, tears fell from her eyes and she cried; she knew that what Chloe and Kara had said about Lois and Clark was true and the idea terrified her.

Cark, Oliver and Lois entered Clark and Lana's new home and Lois instantly went upstairs to look at the bedrooms. Whilst she was doing this, Clark led his friend into the kitchen and fired up the kettle. "So, do you know what's wrong with Lana?" Clark asked.

Oliver frowned. "Why are you asking me, she's your wife?"

"You have more experience with women." replied Clark, smiling slightly.

Shaking his head, Oliver chuckled. "Clark. I've only ever had one girlfriend and…that didn't end well. If you think there's something wrong with Lana, ask her tonight and see what she says." He paused, then asked, "Were she and Lois friends at high school?"

Pouring out three cups of coffee, Clark answered. "No, they weren't. Lana never really liked Lois, for some reason."

Oliver raised his eyebrows, but made no comment; he knew why Lana hadn't and didn't like Lois, but his friend obviously had no idea.

Just then, Lois entered the room. "Wow, Smallville, you've made me coffee. Lana has trained you well." She held the cup of coffee in her hands. Her eyes met with Clark's and for a couple of seconds, their eyes were locked together, until Oliver cleared his throat. Even if the two of them did not know, he could tell that they still had feelings for each other-he just wished that Clark could work them out.


	2. Chapter 2: Past and present

**I do not own 'Smallville' or any of the characters. Please review:)**

Chapter 2: Past and present.

A couple of weeks passed and the Summer Holidays continued. It was a Friday evening and Martha and Johnathan Kent were coming to Metropolis to visit their children and to bring their grandsons to their new home. Lois was now far more settled into Chloe's flat and she had established a friendship with Oliver and Lex. She had spoken to her ex-fiancée, told him where she was and that she was safe and that she was sorry; A.C said that was sorry, too, and Lois had insisted that he had no reason to be sorry.

On the Friday evening, the six of them had all be to the cinema and they were now in Chloe and Lois's flat, eating pizza. Lana was arranging the new house, so she was not there, about which Lois was glad, as Lana was being very cold with her. There was a knock on the door and Chloe stood up from the sofa, where she was sitting next to Clark, and opened the door.

It was Lex's father, Lionel Luthor, who was in his late 50s. He looked nothing like Lex, as Lex looked like his mum. Oliver visibly tensed for a second at the sight of Lionel Luthor and Lex had the same reaction, which was not a surprise to any of them.

"Miss. Sullivan." Lionel nodded to Chloe, as he walked into the flat, looking around, with a very snobby look on his face. Eager to make it clear that it was her home, Lois asked, "Would you like anything to drink or eat, Mr. Luthor?" He shook his head and Chloe returned to her seat next to Clark.

"Dad," Lex forced a smile, as he stood up and walked over to his father, "I'm assuming that this isn't a social visit, so to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Lionel surveyed the group of friends, then remarked, "Your taste in friends has greatly changed, Lex. Apart from the Queen boy, of course, as you've known him since your boyhood." He threw a smile to Oliver, which was not returned, before turning his attention back to his son. "The interview which was shown today, Lex. I would rather, next time, that you did not make my affair clear to the public."

Lex rolled his eyes and asked, "Which affair, Dad? You're had so many? I really don't blame Mum for divorcing you and I can't believe that Pam married you."

"I was talking about my relationship with Pamela."

"You had an affair right after I was born, with my nanny! If the public thing that's bad, there's a reason for that: it is bad, Father. How could be so horrible? Did you not love Mum or me at all?" Lex shouted. "And, then, when Tess was born, she grew up not even knowing who she was! How did you justify that to yourself? And, then, Tess was taken into car-I wonder why that was! I don't blame Mum for divorcing you, I think that she should have done it years before my 12th birthday. You broke her heart." The last bit he said in a whisper, before hissing, "You found your way in, so you can find your way out." He walked back over to his friends and turned his back on his father.

Lionel shook his head, more to himself, then asked his son, "Why did you move here, then? Why not stay in Smallville?"

"I like it here." replied Lex, in a flat voice. "I didn't move here to be near you, if that's what you think. I've lived here for a couple of years anyway. I bet you don't even know where Tess lives. When was the last time you spoke to her, if ever?"

There was a silence, then Lionel sighed. "I came to tell you that Pamela is ill and she's in hospital. She's going to be ok, but she'd still like to see you."

Lex ran his hand across his head, "Dad, I care about Pam, you know I do. I'll go to see her, but don't for a second think that I'm going for you or for your company." He fixed his father with a stare and his father nodded and understood what he was saying.

In order to break the tension which was in the room, Kara asked Lionel if he would like some pizza. Lionel declined, then turned to Oliver and remarked, "You know, years ago, when I read that you were going to Metropolis University, I was rather confused. You had no need to go to university, as you were going to inherit the business. So why did you go?"

Making direct eye contact with Lionel, Oliver answered, "Well, the scenery in Metropolis is beautiful and I wanted to finish my education."

"You are aware that your father didn't go to university, aren't you?"

A certain look appeared to Oliver's eyes, as he replied, "Of course I knew that, Lionel."

Lionel sighed, then continued, "Your mother went, though. I suppose you take after her in more ways than one." He smiled, then asked, "Have you visited your parents recently?"

Oliver stood up. "Lionel, if you don't want to have any pizza, I think you've outstayed our welcome."

Lionel searched Oliver's eyes with his own eyes and murmured, "I must say I was very surprised that you've turned Queen Industries into what it is now. It surprised me, especially considering the way you were when you were at boarding school."

"Well, I like to think that I can beat you and Lex-if Queen Industries weren't here, you and Lex would have no reason to still act at least half civil to each other." He smiled at the older man, in order to annoy him, as the man had annoyed him.

There was a long silence, then Lionel remarked, "I remember how you were during your boarding school days, Oliver and I remember how you treated my son." He walked closer to Oliver, even though the younger man was taller than him. "I don't forget, nor do I forgive." Oliver stared back at him, showing that he was not intimidating by Lionel Luthor. With that, Lionel turned and left the flat.

Oliver walked over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.

"So, did you guys know each other at school?" Kara asked, in an attempt to break the tension which had been present in the room ever since Lex's father had entered.

Before an answer to that question could be given, Lana ran into the room, beaming. She walked over to her husband and asked, "Have you told them yet?"

Clark shook his head. "No, I was waiting until you got here." He turned back to his friends and smiled, "Lana and I have some exciting news: we're expecting another baby, in about 7 months. We're going to have another baby!"

All of their group of friends erupted with cheers and congratulations. Chloe and Kara both pulled Lana into hugs and the latter asked, "Do you know what sex it's going to be?"

Lana shook her head and replied, "No, I'm only 2 months along."

"Do Lewis and Matt know?" Oliver asked, as he walked back over to the fridge for some water. As he poured out a drink, he slipped a pill of some sorts into the water and drank it before anyone could see.

Clark, however, had seen, and he answered, "No, they don't know yet. Oliver, will you come with me for a second?"

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Oliver nodded and followed Clark out of Chloe and Lois's flat. When they were gone, Lex excused himself, by saying that he needed to catch on something at LuthorCorp and he left the flat.

The room fell into silence and Lois, not wanting to be alone with Lana, retreated to her bedroom. Lana gazed off into the distance and tears started to fill her eyes.

Both Chloe and Kara noticed this and they both moved closer to her and Chloe asked, "Lana, what's wrong?"

Forcing a smile, Lana asked, "What makes you think there's something wrong, Chloe? I'm fine, I'm happy."

Chloe and Kara exchanged a look, then Chloe continued, "Lana, when you just told us about the baby, there was a look in your eye and that look wasn't one of job. So, what's going on?"

Lana opened her mouth, then closed it and shook his head. "Chloe, you're one of Clark's best friends and, Kara, you're his sister. I wouldn't feel comfortable having this conversation with either of you."

"But we're your friends too." Kara pointed out, fixing Lana with her piercing green eyes.

There was a silence, then Lana whispered, "I feel trapped."

Confused, Chloe asked, "What? By what, by whom?"

Lana bit her lip, then looked at her two friends, before replying. "I didn't want to have any kids, but Clark did and I ended up pregnant. The boys weren't a planned part of my life, they just happened. I love them, but they weren't part of my plan. And this new baby certainly wasn't a part of my plan, or of Clark's, but we're going to have it anyway. I love Clark and I don't regret moving in with him, or marrying him, but I do regret putting my needs second." She sighed, then continued, "I started working for the Isis Foundation because I thought that I needed that independence and that's what I'm going to do now that we live here."

"Whose choice was it to move to Metropolis, Lana?" inquired Kara, in a very careful tone.

"It was Clark's, but I've wanted to get out of Smallville for ages. I moved into the farm house when I was 19. I've lived with Clark and his parents for seven years. I just want to be alone, with my husband and not feel as if we're still teenagers sneaking around, because that's how I feel when we're with his mum and dad-no offense, Kara." She hastily added, remembering that Martha and Johnathan were her parents as well as Clark's. "I guess, I wanted to move because I've known Clark since I was 3, since I moved in with Aunt Nell and since you, Kara, and he adopted-I feel as if that town defines me, so I want to get away from that and become the person I was meant to be."

Chloe and Kara looked at each other and they knew that the other was thinking the same thing. Chloe sighed, then remarked, "Lana, I've never been married-heck, I've never even had a boyfriend-but I think that you need to talk to Clark and tell him that you feel this way, because if he doesn't know"-

"I can't tell him, because he'll think that I don't love him anymore and I never want to see that look in his eyes." Tears forming in her eyes, she whispered, "I don't want to hurt him." The tears fell from her eyes and onto her checks and she rocked her head from side to side.

Meanwhile, Clark had bought himself and Oliver a coffee and, once they were sitting down, he asked, "What was that thing you put in your drink, Oliver?"

Oliver rolled his eyes. "I'm not back on drugs, if that's what you're thinking." He sighed, then admitted, "They're anti-depressants, ok? I have to take them sometimes, so can we drop this?"

Shaking his head, his best friend asked, "Why do you have to take them?"

"I have to take them because I was having flipping depression, Clark! I have since I was a kid, you know that." Oliver hissed. He ran his hands through his hair, then said, in a gentler voice, "Look, I can't talk about this, ok?"

"Is it because of what Lionel said to you, about your parents?" He was distracted by a text from Lana, telling him that his parents were there, with the boys. He texted back to tell her that they were on their way back, then locked his mobile.

Oliver watched his friend's facial expressions and asked, "So, have you talked to Lana? Asked her what's wrong?" He knew that Clark hadn't, but he'd rather talk about Lana than about himself.

Clark sighed and shook his head. "No. When we went home, she seemed fine. And now, we have this new baby to think about." He sighed, then added, "Don't get me wrong. I love my boys, but I wasn't planning on having a third. Two was perfect and I think Lana really wants to have a daughter now and…so do I."

"So, you guys are ok, then?" Oliver knew that there was something troubling his friend.

Clark forced a smile and replied, "Yeah, we're fine. My parents are at Chloe's, so we should get going."

"I-er-I'll stay here for a while. I don't want to intrude on a family reunion." Oliver stated, in a flat voice. The truth was that he always found seeing people with their parents hard.

Clark sighed. "Please, come, Oliver. The boys really want to see you and so do my mum and dad. They really like you, for some reason." He laughed, hoping to make his friend smile. Oliver did smile, though Clark guessed that it was more to keep him happy.

Once the two friends returned to Chloe and Lois's flat, Lewis and Matthew ran over to their dad and to their godfather. As soon as they hugged them, Martha and Johnathan walked over to their son and hugged him, whilst Oliver sneaked away and sat on the sofa, next to Matthew and Lewis; he sometimes found children easier to deal with adults, as children didn't ask children or watch his every move.

As the evening began to draw to a close, Johnathan sat down next to Oliver and observed, "You're very good with the kids." Oliver smiled back. "Thank you, sir." His eyes fell on Lois and he hoped that the older man would not notice.

"You like her, don't you?" Johnathan remarked, smiling. "I can tell, Oliver. Ask her out-she probably wouldn't say no, son."

Music came on and Clark pulled Lana into the middle of the room, where they started dancing together. Lana rested her head on Clark's chest, as it was where she felt safe and loved. Clark smiled, and rested his head against her, his love for her evident.

Lois walked over to her cousin and sat down next to her. After a moment of silence, she asked, "Are you still in love with him?"

Chloe stared at her and replied, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Chloe, you've been in love with him since you were 12. Anyone can see it."

Turning to her, Chloe snapped, "And what about you, Lois? You're obviously in love with him too, but he's with Lana, so there's nothing either of us can do. Besides," she added, with a smile, "when we were teenagers, he did have feelings for you and I think he still may, even now."

Lois snorted. "Somehow I don't think that Lois Lane and Clark Kent will ever be together in that way. He's my friend, that's all." As she said that, her eyes fell on Clark and Lana again and she felt a profound sense of longing to be in Lana's place, to be dancing in Clark's arms. The reason she had gone to Gotham had been to escape her love for Clark, yet here she was, watching Clark and Lana, as she had done when she had been 16, with Chloe by her side. The one thing she did have which Chloe didn't was the knowledge that, at one time, Clark had felt the same way about her.


	3. Chapter 3: A birth and an ending

**I do not own Smallville. **

**Pairs: **

**Clark/Lois (main one), Clark/Chloe, Clark/Chloe, Oliver/Lois, Oliver/Tess, Chloe/Jimmy and many others...**

Chapter 3: The birth and the end.

7 months later…

Lana seemed to have forgotten about the feelings she had expressed to Chloe and Kara regarding her relationship with Clark, 7 months ago. She had not and she still felt that way, but she wanted to deal with those feelings after the baby was born.

It was a Saturday evening and Clark, Lois, Chloe, Oliver, Kara and Lex were having dinner in the café in Metropolis. "So, Clark, how's Lana?" Oliver asked, as he walked back to his friends, with his dinner.

"She's fine, thanks; she just wants to have the baby, I think. The boys are with Mum and Dad and they'll come down when the baby's born."

Smiling at the mention of babies, Chloe asked, "Do you know the sex of the baby?"

Clark shook his head and replied, "No. Lana didn't want to know; she wants to find out after the birth." He sighed and Chloe and Kara glanced at each other, wondering if Lana had expressed her doubts to him. "I'm worried about her," he continued, "I just-she gave birth to the twins and that took hours. What if something goes wrong, and I loose her, or the baby, or both?"

Lex moved closer to his friend. "Clark, you can't think like that-Lana's done it once before, so she'll be able to do it again. Trust me."

Clark was pulled out of his trance of worrying about Lana and their unborn child when his mobile phone went off; he unlocked his phone and saw that it was Lana. "Hello?"

"Clark," her voice came from the other end of the line, as if she were in pain, "I'm going into labour now. I'm being taken to Metropolis General."

"I'm on my way. I love you."

Lana paused, before whispering, "I love you too. See you soon." She hung up and Clark dropped his phone into his lap, before turning to his friends and sister. "Lana's on her way to Met Gen now. I need to go there; she's having our next baby."

"I'll call Mum and Dad." Kara assured him, as she followed him out of the café. Their friends followed them, but Lois stopped and sat back down. Oliver saw this and walked back to her. He sat down next to her and asked, "Hey, are you ok?"

Avoiding his eyes, Lois replied, "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just, Clark and Lana are having another baby." She paused, then sighed, "I know that this is going to sound really selfish, but with every child they have, the less chance there is of them ever breaking up. That and the fact that they've been together since they were 16. High school sweethearts." She forced a smile, but that didn't fool Oliver.

Oliver bit his lip. "You really like him, don't you and so does Chloe? How does that work?"

Lois laughed. "I guess my cousin and I are both attracted to the same type of man. Chloe's been in love with him since she was 12."

"And, you?" Oliver asked, standing up. "How long have you been in love with him, Lois?" he knew, deep down, that Lois would never reciprocate the feelings which he felt for her, so he decided to be a good friend to her, even though he wanted to be so much more.

There was a silence, then Lois replied, "I guess I've loved him ever since he married Lana-or at least, that was what made me realise that I loved him. You went to their funeral, didn't you?"

Shaking his head, Oliver answered, "No, I didn't. I had my reasons too. Did you go because it would have been too painful?"

Lois sighed, then explained, "When I see children with their mums, it hurts, because my mum died when I was young. It's that kind of pain, as if I've lost something-well, you know what that's like. I'm sorry," she added abruptly, "I didn't mean that."

"No, you did. But you're right; I do understand what you mean." He paused, then added. "But when I first met you at the Kent Farm, at Thanksgiving, I saw the way you and Clark acted around each other-when Lana wasn't there-and I remember being very confused as to why he was with Lana and not with you, because he had feelings for you too, Lois." Their eyes met and Lois smiled at him, gratefully.

"You're a good friend, Oliver. Before I met you, Clark told me that he was friends with you and Chloe and I looked you up-the basic about you. And she and I made assumptions about you, but then Clark brought you home that Thanksgiving and we were both shocked at how kind and polite you were."

Much to her surprise, Oliver smiled. "Ever since my parents died, I've had people making assumptions about me. I've got used to it and try to prove them wrong." Mentioning his parents made him feel sad, so he changed the subject quickly. "Look, Lois, not to sound like a broken record, but, Clark does have feelings for you-even though he's with Lana, he still does. He just doesn't realise it. Now, let's go to the hospital, so we can see this baby." He smiled and the two of them walked out of the café and made their way to the hospital.

Once at the hospital, Clark left Kara and his friends in the waiting room and raced to the room where Lana was. Kara had called their parents and they were on their way to Metropolis, with Lewis and Matthew. He found Lana's room and ran over to her, pulling her close to him. "Lana, thank God you're alright."

His wife pulled away from him and smiled, before replying. "Clark, I'm fine, really. You don't have to be so nervous, the baby and I are ok. Where are the boys?"

"Kara rang Mum and Dad; they're on their way here now."

"Good."

There was a silence, then Clark sat down next to his wife and took hold of her hand. "Lana, are you sure everything's alright?"

Their eyes met, then Lana replied, "Clark, I love you. You know that, don't you? But recently, I-I find myself feeling trapped."

Clark frowned. "Trapped by what?" Realisation came across his face and he whispered, "You feel trapped by me, don't you? Lana, I'm so sorry. I"-

"Clark," Lana raised her hand to the side of his face and looked him deep in the eyes, "you haven't done anything wrong. It's me. It's entirely me. You've always been there for me and I love you for that. I love you for so many reasons!"

Tears forming in his eyes, Clark whispered, "I love you, too, more than you'll ever know, Lana."

A smile came across Lana's face and she stated, "That's what you said on our wedding day."

Clark stood up and kissed her on the forehead, before heading for the door. "I'm going to give you some space. Call me if you need anything."

Lana was about to protest, to tell him that she needed him there with her, but he was gone. She bent her head and cried.

As Clark walked back into the waiting room, he hit something and walked off again. Oliver spotted him and called after him. "Clark! Clark, what's wrong?"

Turning to his friend, Clark murmured. "Oliver, just leave me alone."

Oliver shook his head. "No. Not until you tell me what's going on."

"I don't want to talk to you about this!" Clark shouted, glaring at his friend. "You're my best friend, Oliver, but I can't talk to you about this! Now, leave me alone!"

"Who can you talk to, then? Kara, Chloe, Lois…Lex?" Oliver's voice turned harsh as he pronounced the final name, then he added, "Trust me, Clark, Lex Luthor should not be that high on your confident list."

Clark sighed and retorted, "You bullied him at boarding school, so you can hardly talk! I've known Lex since I was 16! I trust him with my life; he never hides anything from me! You do! There's a part of your life I don't know about at all and, sometimes, I don't even know you. Maybe what they say in the magazines is true, Oliver!"

Looking him in the eye, Oliver snapped, "You know what? Since the day we met, I have tried to be open with you. I have been more open with you than I have ever been with anyone, apart from one person. Clark, I can't believe that after all of our years of friendship, that you don't trust me." With that, he walked back to the waiting room.

Clark sat down on a chair, until Lex came along and asked him what was going on. Sighing, Clark replied, "It out that I don't make Lana as happy as I thought I did. What am I going to do, Lex?"

Lex smiled and replied, with a smile, "Clark, I've known you for a long time and the one thing I do know about you is that you never give up on anything-or anyone, so don't give up on Lana. You make her happy, Clark, I can see it in her eyes and she loves you, so there can't be anything the two of you can't get past. You and Lana can make it through anything. I know that. Don't give up just because things are hard."

"Thanks, Lex."

An hour later, there was still no baby. Clark was in the birthing room with Lana, his parents, Matthew, Lewis and Kara, but Lex had gone home, as there was business to which he needed to attend. As Oliver and Lois walked back to the waiting room from the canteen, they saw Chloe staring at a baby, with tears in her eyes. "Can you go and check on her?" Lois asked Oliver. "I need to give my sister a call."

Oliver agreed and walked over to Chloe, sitting down next to her. "You ok?" he asked, as he placed a cup of coffee on the table next to her, as she looked as if she needed one.

Wiping her tears with the sleeve of her jumper, Chloe forced a smile and replied, "Yeah, I'm fine, Ollie." His eyes fell on hers and tears fell from her eyes again, so she decided to be honest. "It's just-the only relationship I've ever had…has been a redundant, dead-end, one-sided one and it's hard." Her voice cracked and she ran her hands through her hair, before whispering through the tears. "I really want to have a baby. I want to get married and have a baby. That's my dream. Who pathetic is that? It's all I've ever wanted. Ever since my mum walked out on us, I've wanted the stability which I didn't have after she left."

"I can relate to that." Oliver remarked, smiling slightly. "Chloe, I know that your relationship with Clark is…complicated and I can understand how hard seeing him with Lana, and Lois, is, but you will find someone." She turned to face him. "Trust me. You will find your soul mate and that's saying something, coming from me, considering I don't believe in them." He laughed and they hugged. Chloe buried her head under his chin and whispered, "Thanks, Ollie. You always help me." When they parted, she smiled. "By the way, I see the way you look at Lois-ask her out."

"No." He shook his head. "She doesn't feel that way about me."

Chloe shrugged and remarked, "She did when we first met you, all those years ago." She laughed to herself, then added, "I'm serious-she really did like you back then and I could tell that you liked her, too, and you still do and, as for worrying about getting between her and Clark, don't worry about that; as much as I would like to think that something could happen between the two of them, we both know that it never will. Lois Lane and Clark Kent obviously aren't destined to be together."

Just then, Lois came back and announced, "Lana's giving birth. Clark wants us in there." Her eyes were full of dread, as she did not want to have to witness Clark and Lana having their third child, nor did she really want to see the 'miracle', which was childbirth, as she hoped that she would never have to endure it.

They went into the room, where Matthew and Lewis were standing next to her mum, looking terrified. Oliver took their hands and led them over to the wall, where they could see their parents, but they weren't too close to it, as it was scaring them.

After half an hour of pushing, the doctor started telling Clark and Lana which body parts were emerging and, finally, the baby came out. The doctor wrapped the baby in a blanket and handed it to Lana, who felt as if she were about to pass out as a consequence of the pain; she took the baby in her arms and smiled down at her new child. Clark reached across and planted a gentle kiss on the baby's forehead, before planting one on his wife's forehead.

"It's a boy," Lana whispered, then she looked up and announced, "It's a boy. Matty, Lewis, you have a baby brother." She then passed her new son to Clark, who smiled down at him, the love and devotion already showing on his face and in his eyes. The baby was then passed to his aunt, then to his grandparents. Martha turned to Chloe, who was standing next to her cousin and asked, "Do you want to hold him, Chloe?"

Slowly, Chloe walked over to her and took the tiny baby in her arms. As the baby squirmed, her eyes filled with tears and she whispered, "You are going to be a very loved baby." She then asked, "What's his name?"

Clark and Lana looked at each other, then the former replied, "Well, we picked the name Seth for a boy. What do you think, Lana?"

His wife smiled and nodded. "Seth. Seth Kent, that's perfect." Seth was passed back to her and she whispered, "Welcome to the world, Seth Kent. Lewis, Matty, do you want to come and say hello to your baby brother?"

Clark walked over to them and carried them, where they sat on their grandparents' knees, gazing in wonder at the new arrival to their family. The door opened and Lex came in. He walked over to Clark and put a hand of his shoulder, as he looked down at his friend's son. The sight of the baby, Seth, made him think of the day his baby brother had been brother and when he had died a couple of months after.

Oliver slipped out of the room and Clark followed him, as his friend went to the vending machines. Leaning against the machine, Clark began, "Oliver, I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I do trust you."

Nodding, Oliver sighed. "Yeah, I know, but you just trust Lex more."

"When it comes to talking about my love life, yes." Clark bit his lip. "What I mean is, you've never been in a proper relationship-I mean, whilst we were at Met U, you spent most of your time drinking and hanging out with girls, but you never had a proper relationship. I'm sorry to be so blunt and if I'd been through everything you had, I may have acted the same way."

His friend eyed him for a few seconds, then remarked, "So, Clark, your my best friend and even you believe that you red in the tabloids. Ok, you're right-I didn't act in the best way, but I thought that I'd redeemed myself in your eyes." There was a touch of anger and bitterness in his voice and in his eyes and Clark knew that he was hurt. "And the fact that you trust Lex more than me, tells me everything!"

"I do trust you, Oliver, more than anyone-even more than Chloe, but you-you're very closed off and it's hard to deal with sometimes." He exhaled a deep breath, then changed his tone of voice, "Look, my son's just been born. I don't want to fight with you."

There was a silence, then Oliver bent down and retrieved the food from the machine. He straightened up, then said, "I'm going to go home. Err-you have a good time with Seth and kiss the boys for me."

"Oliver," Clark said in almost a whisper, "you don't have to go."

Oliver turned back to him. "Yeah, I do-you should spend some time with your family. I'll see you later, Clark. Congratulations." He smiled, but Clark could tell that it was forced.

The next morning, Clark woke up in a hospital bed with Lana and Seth. His parents had taken Matthew and Lewis back home, as they been too tired to spent the night with their parents; Chloe, Lois, Kara and Lex had left earlier that morning and had gone home to get some rest. As he started to move out of the bed, his wife stirred and her eyes opened. She smiled and whispered, "Good morning, Daddy Clark." She leaned over and kissed him and he kissed her back.

Their lips parted, then Clark said, "I have something to do. Will you be ok for a while, I mean with Seth?"

Lana's smile wavered, but she forced it back and nodded. "Sure, Clark. I'll be here waiting." As he stood up and left the room, she placed baby Seth back into his cot and sighed, wondering what to do. Sighing, she stood up and grabbed a video camera, before running her hands through her hair and over her face, thinking over, once again, what she was about to do and, more importantly, if she could do this. Could she do what she needed to do?

Clark returned to Lana's hospital room an hour later and found no Lana, only Seth. He took his baby son into his arms and looked around the room, confused, as he saw that all of Lana's bags were gone. Worried about where his wife was, he asked, "Where's Lana Kent? My wife, where is she?"

The nurse looked up confused, before replying, "She checked out about half an hour ago, Mr. Kent. She left this." He handed Clark an envelope, which Clark took confused as to what it was. He opened it and out came Lana's wedding ring. He put Seth down and dug deeper into the envelope and found a note, a letter, in Lana's handwriting.

'Clark. I knew that I had to do this when you were gone, as if I looked into your eyes, I would never be able to do this.

I love you and I always have, for ten long years, but I feel trapped. Not by you, just in general, and I feel as if I need to be free. I have to be free. I've waited until Seth was born to express these feelings. I've been in contact with my lawyer and she's going to work out a divorce settlement. I love you, but you aren't my soul mate and I'm not yours. I love you Clark, more than you'll ever know.'

Tears streamed down Clark's face, as he read that. He threw the letter and the ring back into the envelope and sat down, holding his 1-day-old baby son in his arms, trying to comprehend what was happening: Lana had left him.

Ten years before….

It was Clark's 16th birthday and he had spent the day with his parents and Kara. He had had a great day and he had also seen Chloe. He knew that she had feelings for him, but that did not stop her from being his best friend. Lana had been with Jason Teague since they had been 15, but Jason's dad had died and he had broken up with Lana; Jason was Clark's friend, but he was glad that he and Lana were no longer together; he knew that Jason loved Lana, so he had no idea why he had let her go. Kara had said that the death of a parent can dramatically change people and Jason's dad's death had obviously done that.

"Clark?" Clark turned around, to see Lana walking up the stairs of the barn, with a cake, which had a full set on candles on it. In the candle-light, Clark thought that she looked even more beautiful than he could ever remember. She walked over to where he was standing, by the window, with the cake in her hands and said, "Happy birthday." When his only response was to smile, she whispered, "Make a wish."

There was a silence, then Clark looked into her eyes and stated, "I've been wishing for the same thing ever since I was 5."

"And now?"

Clark looked at her, then took the cake from her hands and placed it down on the table, before facing Lana again. He stepped closer and replied, "Now I don't have to wish for it: she's standing right here in front of me." Slowly, he moved his face closer to hers and they kissed.

The next day, the two of them were sitting together, and Clark asked, "How's Jason?"

Lana sighed. "Ever since his dad died, he's been distant. When he broke up with me, he told me that he loved me, but that he had to let me go, for my own good. I told him I loved him."

"Do you?" Clark asked, afraid that the answer was going to be a 'yes'.

Shaking her head, Lana replied, "I did, but not anymore." With that, she leaned over to Clark and kissed him again and he kissed her back.

Present day…

Clark pulled himself out of those memories and thought about how he would have felt had he been Jason; heartbroken, as he was feeling now. His friendship with Jason had broken down after he and Lana had started dating and, after leaving school, Jason had left the country and Clark had not seen or heard from him since then.


	4. Chapter 4: Unexpected news

**I do not own Smallville or any of the charecters. I do, however, own Estrella and Clark and Lana's children. For future referance, I had Clark and Lana's relationship in the first three chapters not because I like them as a couple, but because I wanted it to act as a comparison with Clark's future relationship with Lois. **

**Please review and tell me what you think of this chapter. There are some surprises. :)**

Chapter 4: Unexpected news.

One month later…

Since Lana's departure a month ago, Clark had not spoken with his sister or with any of his friends, as he had nothing to say to any of them. He moved back to Smallville, with Lewis, Matthew and Seth and lived in his parents' house. He didn't speak to either of them and ran away any time they tried to talk to him. He had called Lana, he had called her aunt, desperately trying to find her, but he had had no luck and he was beginning to think that he would never see Lana again.

On a Friday evening, Kara travelled back to the Kent Farm for dinner with her family. After having dinner and playing with Matthew and Lewis, she went up to her brother's bedroom and knocked. When he didn't respond, she opened the door and went in. Clark was sitting, with his back to wall, throwing a tennis ball against the wall and Kara saw that he was still wearing his wedding ring.

Kara sat down next to him and sighed. "Clark, I know this isn't what you want to hear, but we can't find Lana anywhere. Chloe's tried, Oliver and Lex have had their people on it and she's nowhere to be found. I think you have to accept the fact that she doesn't want you to find her."

Clark shook his head. "If I'd listened to her, if I'd paid attention to her feelings, this would never have happened and she'd still be here."

"Clark, she was having doubts for months and you know it."

"Why didn't she talk to me, then? I was her husband!" Clark snapped, glaring at his sister. He caught the ball, stood up and walked over to the other side of the room. "There must be something they've missed, there has to be-I have to find her and I will be bring her home. I swear, Kara."

There was a silence, then Kara stated, in a careful voice, "Clark, she left you. She doesn't want to be found."

"I'm not giving up on her! I love her. She's the love of my life! I won't abandon her!" He sighed, then asked, in an aggressive way, "What are you doing here anyway, Kara?"

She stood up and walked over to him, smiling. "Well, I wanted to see you… and I wanted to get away from Metropolis for a while." When her brother gave her a questioning look, she whispered, "Lex has a new girlfriend. Her name's Desiree."

Clark looked at her very confused. "Lex has a revolving door of women-she won't last. Besides, why would that make you want to leave Metropolis?"

Kara shrugged. "He's my friend. I don't want him to get hurt." She knew that Clark would not work out the real reason as to why she did not like Desiree, so there was no harm in lying to him. She was silent, then sighed, "Please come back, Clark, we're all missing you."

"I can't move back into the home I shared with Lana."

"Oliver's said that you and the boys can stay with him, until you get a place of your own. I know that you and Oliver had a fight when Seth was born and I do know that he's trying to make you feel welcome."

"He's jealous of my friendship with Lex, because, with some things, I trust Lex more than I trust him." Clark fiddled with his wedding ring. "Fine, I'll go back, but what about the boys?"

"They can stay with us." Martha said, as she walked into her son's bedroom. "Your father and I are more than happy to take care of them, you know that, Clark."

Clark packed his bags, kissed his three sons goodbye and left Smallville, with Kara. As they drove off, he saw Lana's aunt, but fought the urge to ask her where Lana was.

By the time they returned to Metropolis, it was almost 10:oo, as there had been a traffic jam, but brother and sister went to Chloe and Lois's flat, as they knew that their friends would be there. A part of Clark did not want to have to face his friends, but the other part of him wanted to remind himself that he did have an identity and a life, besides being Lana's husband and, before that, boyfriend and fiancée.

As they entered Chloe and Lois's flat, a woman with dark hair and green eyes walked over to them and wrapped her arms around Clark, kissing him on each check. Kara rolled her eyes, walked past her brother and sat down next to Oliver, who was trying to avoid Lex and his new girlfriend. When the women broke her arms away from Clark, she waltzed back over to Lex and murmured, "Lex, I don't believe you've introduced me."

Clark saw his sister, Chloe and Lois roll their eyes, but he ignored them and walked over to Lex, who, smiling, announced, "Clark, this is my girlfriend, Desiree Atkins. Desire, this is my best friend, Clark Kent." Clark held out his hand, which she picked up and kissed. Clark pulled away, but he did find this women attractive.

"So, Clark," Desiree asked, as she collected another glass of wine from the table, "are you married, I see you're wearing a wedding ring?"

For some reason, Clark found his eyes resting on Lois's, who was sitting behind Clark and Desiree, before shaking his head and replying, "No. I mean, I was, but I've had a divorce recently. But I am the only one of us to have been married in this group." He added, in an attempt to, firstly break the tension in the room and to make himself feel better.

Desiree chuckled, in a high-pitched one and stated. "Not for long." She turned to Lex and asked, "Should you tell them or shall I, pumpkin?"

Clark frowned and asked Lex, "Tell us what?"

Smiling from ear to ear, Lex answered, "De and I are engaged to be married. The wedding's going to be in a couple of days."

"What? You can't be serious!" Kara stood up, glaring at Desiree, with hatred in her eyes. Her eyes met with Lex's and then with her brother's then she added, in a calm voice, "I mean, how are you going to organise a wedding in a couple of days? That's impossible and how are you going to get your father to approve?"

Lex and Desiree kissed, then the former replied, "We've got it all planned and I would love it if all of you could be there. Clark," he turned back to the man in question, "I know that weddings may be a hard place for you to be, but I was wondering if you'd be my best man? If you're not comfortable"-

"Lex, of course I'll do it." Clark smiled; he felt a bit guilty for neglecting his friends since Lana had left him and he wanted to make amends. The friends sat talking for a little while longer, then Clark asked, "Oliver, can I talk to you?" Oliver nodded, grabbed his coat and followed his friend out of the flat.

As soon as they were out in the hallway, they stopped walking and Oliver said, "Look, Clark, I was out of line, I'm sorry. How are you? I haven't heard from you in a month?" he paused, then asked, "Have you heard from Lana?"

Shaking his head, Clark replied, "No, I haven't, but trying to help. I will find her, Oliver. I will. I made a promise to her on our wedding day and I will follow through on those promises and I'm wearing this ring to remind me of the commitment I made to Lana. I love with all of my heart. I will win her back." He saw the look of doubt in his friend's eyes and stated, "Kara thinks that Lana left because she didn't want to be with me, but I know that she does-no matter what she said in that letter she left me." There was a silence, then he asked, "What do you think of Lex's fiancée?"

Oliver laughed slightly and shrugged. "She wouldn't be my first choice, or even on my list, but I guess Lex's taste in women will never change."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Lex was never attracted to the kind, loyal type; he was more interested in the kind who were willing to have a one-night stand with him. I mean, I did loads of things as a teenager, but that was one of things I didn't do. What do you think?"

Clark smiled and replied, "I'm going to try not to judge her. Can I stay at your place, at least until I get a place of my own?"

Oliver smiled back. "Sure. _Mi casa es su casa._"

Sitting down on the step, Clark asked, "Oliver, what's the longest relationship you've ever had? I've always wondered about this."

Oliver looked down at his shoes, then murmured, "I was with someone for three years and I loved her-I really did." In order to turn the conversation away from himself, he asked, "How long were you and Lana together?"

Running his hands through his hair, Clark exhaled. "We were married for 6 years. We started dating when we were 16, after she broke up with Jason. So, ten years all together."

"Jason Teague?"

"Yeah. Do you know him?"

Biting his lip, Oliver replied, "Yeah, he-er-well, he and I were friends…a long time ago, when we were kids. Do you want to go home?"

Clark nodded and the two of them walked back to the flat.

After Lex and Desiree left Chloe and Lois's flat, the three young women sat together and put on a Romantic Comedy. When the film was over, Lois inquired, "Kara, how long have you known Lex?"

"Since I was 20 and he was 18. Why?"

Lois shrugged. "Just wondering? How long have you had feelings for him?" she was expecting Kara to become defensive, as she and Chloe did whenever someone asked them that question regarding Clark, but Kara was not resistant in any way.

She pulled her jumper around her and replied, "When we first met, he liked me-I know that much, but I didn't feel the same way about him. I guess, I was two years older than him and I was Clark's sister…I knew that he was attracted to me, but I wasn't interested. When I told him I'd broken up with Jimmy, he was really pleased, but I didn't over-think that. I've only just worked it out, now that he's with Desiree. Now that it's too late." She turned to look at her best friends. "If anyone can understand that, it's you two; you're both in love with Clark. Chloe, you have been since you were 12 and, Lois, you have since you were 16. It's obviously fate's twisted sense of humour." She smiled, then whispered, "Thanks for the film-we should have a girls' night again." With that, she stood up and left the flat, leaving Chloe and Lois feeling both guilty and sad.

Lex and Desiree walked back to Lex's flat and sat down together on the sofa. As they sat together, drinking their wine, Desiree walked, "Lex, what do your friends think of me? Lois and Chloe seemed to like me and Clark. But not Kara." She added, with a tone in her voice which Lex did not like. When he made no remark, she asked, "Lex, is Kara an ex-girlfriend of yours?"

Shaking his head, Lex answered, "No. No, no. I mean, I've had loads of girlfriends but Kara was never one of them. She's my friend and that's all." He was lying and they both knew it, but was easier than facing his feelings for Kara, which he had had since he had been 18, but he knew that she had not felt the same way. In some ways, he knew that that was why he was friends with Chloe and Lois, as they were both in love with Clark, but he had never looked at either of them in that way.

Early the next morning, Clark woke up early and phoned his parents, so that he could talk to them and to his sons. Both Matthew and Lewis told him about Seth and how he was doing. Clark's heart ached, as there was a part of him which wanted to be with his children more than anything, but being with them was too painful and he did not want to be with them until he found Lana.

"We're having a film day at Chloe and Lois," Clark told Oliver when his best friend came into the kitchen, "are you going to come?"

Oliver nodded. "I'll come in the afternoon. I just have some work to do, with Dr. Swann."

Clark frowned, as he knew that he had heard that name before. "Swann? As in Dr. Vincent Swann? How come I've heard of him before?"

"He's the owner of Lopez-Swann Incorporated." Oliver replied, "he and his wife, whose Spanish, travel all around the world."

"Do they have kids?"

There was a silence and Oliver hesitated before answered, "Yeah. Yes, they have two kids. A boy and a girl."

Clark sighed and jumped to conclusions. "Let me guess: you had an affair with his daughter, years ago, and now you're afraid of working with him, afraid that he'll find out." As soon as he saw the look in Oliver's eyes, he knew that he had both upset and offended him, so he mumbled, "I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that." Without saying anything more, he opened the door and left the flat, leaving Oliver there.

Once Oliver arrived in his office, he walked over to his desk and examined the three photographs which were on his desk. The first one was of him and his brother, Sam, which had been taken when he had been about 6 and Oliver had been 4. They had been very close. The second photo was of Oliver with his parents, which had been taken shortly before their death. Even looking at photos of them and his brother made him sad, so he looked at the third one on this desk. This one was of him, when he had been about 5, with Dr. Vincent's Swann's daughter, who had been his age. Oliver picked it up and found himself wondering what this girl, his friend, was like now.

"It seems like a lifetime ago, doesn't it?" stated a Spanish-American voice behind him, a voice which Oliver had not heard since he had been 5. He turned around and saw her standing there, with her dark hair and other features, which he remembered.

They ran to each other and embraced each other into a tight hug. Estrella buried her head into Oliver's shoulders and whispered, "Ollie, I thought I'd never see you again."

Oliver released her and returned to his normal high, as she was quite short. Smiling, and taking in her appearance, he inquired, "What are you doing here?"

Smiling, Estrella replied, "Well, after I graduated university, Santiago and I started working for our dad's company and we have done ever since. I've moved to Metropolis." She paused, then whispered, "When I googled you and saw that you lived here now, I couldn't believe it." She took hold of his hands and repeated, "I thought I'd never see you again. I can't believe that I'm standing here with you, right now."

There was a silence, and their eyes started to search each other, in the way that they did when one was searching for something. Oliver bent his head down slightly, then pulled back, reminding himself that he had known Estrella since childhood. He pulled her into another hug and stated, "I'm just glad you're here, Estrella. You were my best friend."

Estrella sighed and bit her lip, glad that Oliver could not see her. "It will just be like old times, won't it? We'll be the unstoppable duo."


	5. Chapter 5: Till death do us part?

**I do not own Smallville. Lois will have a boyfriend, in about 3 chapters. Enjoy and review, please. :)**

Chapter 5: Till death do us part?

An hour later, Oliver and Estrella walked to Chloe and Lois's flat and everyone, besides Lex, stared at the new-comer, not knowing who she was. Lex knew and as the others, including his fiancée, rose to great the newcomer, he stayed put, with his eyes fixed on the young Spanish woman.

"Hi. I'm Clark." Clark smiled at the women. "What's your name?"

Estrella followed Oliver and sat down next to him on the sofa. "I'm Estrella Lopez-Swann. I've just moved here. Who are you?"

Very taken in by her looks and accent, Clark replied, "I'm Clark Kent, Oliver's friend. How do you know Oliver?"

Estrella thanked Chloe for the cup of coffee, then replied, "I've known Oliver since we were kids-we played together when our parents worked together. It seems like a life-time ago now." She paused, then added, "Oliver stayed with us after his parents died for a while, before he was sent away to Europe. I haven't seen him since." There was a silence, then she asked, "Are you married, Clark?", as she saw the wedding ring on his finger.

"No. Well, my wife and I are separated now." Clark looked down at his hands; there was something about this woman which made him feel very nervous and young. A part of him wondered if she and Oliver were a couple and that made him feel jealous.

Their conversation was ended when the door burst open and Lionel Luthor walked through the door, with a copy of the 'Daily Planet' in his hands and he stormed over to his son. "Is this true?" He demanded, indicating to the article which was talking about Lex's engagement to Desiree Atkins. Both Chloe and Lois sighed inwardly as they saw Kara flinch and they decided that it would be best to get her out of the flat, so they did that and Clark followed them, leaving just Oliver and Estrella to witness the dispute between father and son.

Lex looked up at his father and answered, "Yes, Dad. I am engaged to be married to Desiree. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Of course I have a problem with that." replied his father, as he sat down next to the younger Luthor. "She isn't from the same world as us, son; we-I-don't know what kind of family she comes from. And, we're Luthors, so that does matter, even though you may think that it doesn't."

"Careful, Lionel, you could come across as a snob." Remarked Oliver, in a dry voice, making Lionel aware of his presence for the first time. Estrella bit her lip in order to prevent herself from laughing.

Lionel turned to face them and stood up. "Estrella Lopez-Swann. Why, I haven't seen you since you were a little girl. You've grown into quite the young woman now, haven't you?" he paused, then remarked, "I seem to recall your parents being very knee on you and Oliver working together-I wonder why that was." With that, he turned back to his son. "Lex, I want to meet this woman and her parents, so that I can find out, so that I know the person whom you're marrying."

Standing up and facing his father face-to-face, Lex hissed, "The only thing you need to know, Father, is that I love Desiree and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. Now, Mum doesn't have a problem with that, so why do you?"

Shaking his head in a patronising way, Lionel replied, "Because you've always had your mother wrapped around your finger, Lex." He threw the paper on the table, then waked out. Before departing, he remarked, "Estrella, please give your father my regards and your brother, in fact."

As soon as the door was closed, Lex exhaled deeply and ran his hands over his head, wondering what to do.

"Do you really love her?" Estrella asked, in a gentle voice.

Her eyes met with Lex's and he answered, "More than you can understand, Stella." As children, he had always called her that, as he had had trouble pronouncing her name. Estrella smiled at the use of her childhood nickname, then walked out of the flat.

Lex looked at Oliver and asked, "So, are the two of you together?"

Oliver shook his head. "No and we never were. She's my childhood best friend, I could never date her." Even as he said that, he knew that it was not true, as he did have feelings for Estrella.

"Well, if you do, act quickly, as I think Clark has his eyes on her and who can blame him?"

Oliver shook his head, disagreeing with Lex. Just then, Clark walked back in and asked, "What did your father want?"

Chuckling, his friend replied sarcastically, "He came to express his joy of my pending marriage." He sighed, then added, "I'm going to call Desiree and ask her what we should do. I'll be back soon." He grabbed his mobile phone and coat and walked out of Chloe and Lois's flat and called his fiancée.

A couple of weeks later…

Lex and Desiree agreed to postpone the wedding for a couple of weeks, just long enough to satisfy Lionel with his investigations, but not long enough that he thought he had won and they were not marrying.

Meanwhile, Chloe, Lois and Kara were certain that Oliver and Estrella had feelings for each other, but neither of them had acted on them and they were all wondering why. Oliver and Estrella were good friends, they knew that. Clark, meanwhile, was beginning to have feelings for Estrella, as she was gentle and beautiful-it did not occur to him that Oliver had the same feelings for her.

The day of Lex and Desiree's wedding came and Kara woke up, with tears in her eyes. She knew that she did not love Lex, but she did have feelings for him and the fact that he had once felt the same way, broke her heart-she had missed her chance and that killed her. What she also found hard was that she could not talk to her brother about it; it was only Chloe and Lois who understood.

That afternoon, in the April sun, Lex and Desiree took their vows and Matthew and Lewis were their pageboys, as Clark had decided to move them back to Metropolis, as he realised that he needed them even more than he needed Lana. His parents were there, as well. As the vows were taken, Kara closed her eyes and forced herself not to cry, not here.

Afterwards, she ran to the bathroom and burst into tears, looking at her relfection in the mirror, wondering what she would have to look like in order for Lex to feel that way about him.

She heard the door open and she wiped her eyes and faces. "It's okay. You don't have to hide anything from me, Kara." It was Estrella. Smiling, she passed Kara a tissue and sat down next to her on the floor.

"It's Lex, isn't it?" she asked, "you have feelings for him?"

Kara nodded, but forced herself to look down at the floor.

Estrella laughed softly and remarked, "This is the most complicated group of friends I have ever come across. You have feelings for Lex, he used to feel the same way about you, and both Chloe and Lois have feelings for Clark, but he's still pining after his estranged wife! How do you function as a group? Seriously?"

"By burying and denying our feelings." Kara replied, holding back a sob. "I didn't know that I had feelings for Lex until he was with Desiree."

"That's often the way it works."

Kara looked up at her new friend and inquired, "Has this ever happened to you? Unrequited love, I mean?"

Estrella shook her head. "When I was 5, we moved back to Spain and we moved in with our abuela. But my parents had just lost their closest friends and it-it took its tool and they travelled-more than they needed to and Santiago and I were left with our abuela. I've never had a boyfriend, at all, and I sometimes worry that I never will. My Madre didn't help me in that way."

"My birth parents died when I was 5 and Clark was 3. We were lucky, unlike Oliver, and we were adopted by the Kents. I sometimes wonder, would we be different people had we been raised by our biological parents? I still remember them and that's hard."

"I'm sure that they would be very proud of you-of both of you. If you were my kids, I defiantly would be." There was a silence, then she stood up and smiled. "Come on, let's go and enjoy the party." She held out her hand and Kara took it and two of them walked out of the bathroom.

Once they were back in the main room, Clark gave his best-man's speech, which Kara knew he had only written the night before. As her brother was speaking, Kara found her eyes wandering over Lex and Desiree, who were standing together with their arms around each other. Kara had never seen her friend as happy as he seemed and that made her happy, but just wished that Desiree was not the person whom he had married. She was surprised that Lex's half-sister was not there.

As Clark came to end of his speech, Oliver slipped out of the room, as he needed some air and Estrella followed him.

Oliver sat down on the window ledge outside, sipping a glass of water, as he did not trust himself to drink alcohol.

"Are you ok?" Estrella asked, as she approached her childhood friend.

Turning to her, he shook his head and answered, "Yeah, I'm fine thanks. You?"

Estrella sat down next to him. "Yeah, I just hope that Kara's alright. Seeing Lex getting married is hard for her. I guess that's what happens when someone you have feelings for marries someone."

Oliver bit his lip and thought for a while before asking. "So, if you had feelings for someone, would you act on it? Take that chance, I mean?"

Their eyes met and she whispered back, "Yes, I would. If I thought it was a risk worth taking." As she said it, her words her were well-paced, as if she were trying to make a point. Slowly, their faces moved closer together and closer until they were inches away. At this point, they both stopped and looked at each other, before moving closer. Their lips met and they kissed. As their kiss began to deepen, Estrella suddenly pulled away and moved back. She ran her hands across her face and murmured. "I can't do this. I'm sorry, Oliver. I can't do this."

Feeling both embarrassed and hurt, Oliver asked, "Why? Have-have I done something wrong?"

Estrella shook her head, forcing a smile. "No. You've done nothing wrong. That was lovely-it's just. I don't think it would be a good idea for my first boyfriend to be someone with whom I could fall deeply in love." When she saw the look on Oliver's face, she added, "And I have feelings for someone else. Clark. I-I think it would be best if you and I remain friends, as anything else would be too complicated."

Before Oliver could say anything, she stood up and walked back into the room where the wedding was taking place. Oliver ran his hands through his hair and wondered what to do. He knew that he wanted to be with Estrella, but he also knew that she felt the same way, so why was she being so resistant?

Lois noticed that Clark was not being his unusual cheerful self, so she sat down next to him and asked, "Are you ok?"

Clark sighed. "Do you remember when we were kids, and you thought that you'd meet someone, fall in love and that would be it? It would be that simple? If only it were."

Looking down at her hands, Lois whispered, "To be honest, I never thought that life would be that simple." She paused, then asked, "Is this about Lana?"

Clark hesitated, then replied, "Yes. I'll always love her. I know that, but I've started to have feelings for someone else: Estrella."

Ignoring the pain in her chest, Lois forced a smile. "If you like her, why don't you ask her out?"

Turning to face her, Clark asked, "Do you think I should?" When she nodded, Clark smiled. "Great. I'll do it tonight." With that, he stood up and walked away, leaving Lois, selfishly hoping, that Estrella did not feel the same about Clark.

The following day, Estrella snuck out of Oliver's flat before he woke up, as she did not have the courage to face him.

When Clark woke up, later that day, he made his way to The Talon, the branch which had recently moved to Metropolis, in order to find Estrella, as he wanted to talk to her. He saw her, purchased a coffee and walked over to her.

"Hey," he smiled, as he sat down, "it's quite cold this morning, isn't it?"

Estrella nodded. "Yeah, it is. Where are the boys?"

"They're with Oliver. He spoils them rotten." He paused, then inquired, "Did you enjoy the wedding?"

There was a silence and Estrella worked out that Clark did not know of his sister's feelings for Lex. "I enjoyed it. I think they'll be very happy together. How long were you and your wife together?"

Swallowing his coffee, Clark answered. "Well, we started dating when we were 16, moved in together when we were 19 and married the next year. Lewis and Matthew were born the year after that." He paused, then whispered, "She was my first love and I-I love her. I'll always love here. There are times when I wake up and I turn to see her…and then I remember that she left me and she'll never come back. We're sorting out the divorce at the moment."

"From what I've heard, she was a wonderful person and so are you." She smiled and he smiled back, before asking, "So, did your parents work with Oliver's parents?"

Nodding Estrella replied. "Yes. My parents were good friends with Oliver's parents. Losing them was…such a shock to all of us. Including my parents." There was a silence again, then she asked, "Now, why did you follow me here, Clark?"

Embarrassment rushed through his body and he mumbled, "I didn't follow you here. I-er-I came to ask if you wanted company of the way back to Oliver's."

Estrella watched him, then nodded. "Fine, let's go."

As soon as they arrived back in Oliver's flat, Clark checked that none of his sons were present and was relieved that they were not, as he was already very nervous. He sat down on the sofa and was shocked that Estrella sat down next to him. "Er," he began, running through his head what he was going to say, "I-er-I wanted to ask you if you-er-if you wanted to go out with me, like on a date."

"Are you asking me out?" Estrella asked, with a smile on her face.

Hesitating, Clark nodded. "Yeah, I am. Is that ok?"

Their eyes met and Estrella moved closer and their lips met. They kissed and closed their eyes, lost in the moment. It was Estrella's second kiss, but a part of her was comparing it to her kiss with Oliver, but she forced that thought out of her mind.


	6. Chapter 6: Dancing around you

**I do not own "Smallville" or any of the characters. Enjoy and please review:). Here is the first "sign" of Lois & Clark-or I think so anyway.**

**Enjoy:)and let me know what you think of the presant couples. Lois will be getting a boyfriend in the next chapter. :)**

Chapter 6: Dancing around you.

Lex and Desiree travelled to Rome for their honeymoon and their leaving made Kara's life easier, as she was not faced with the torcher of seeing the two of them together.

Meanwhile, Clark and Estrella had been on a couple of dates and they were growing increasingly fond of each other. Lois was glad that Clark was with a woman who was as kind and genuine as Estrella, but she was still jealous and decided to that, in order to try to move on from Clark, she was going to get a job, which would involve working with and around men. There was a part of her that missed AC, but she forced herself not to think about him, as it only caused her great pain. Some of her belongings were still in Gotham, in the flat she and A.C had purchased together. She had not had the courage to go back there, to see him.

On a Monday morning, when Chloe went into work, at 'The Daley Planet' someone caught her eye; the fact of someone she had thought she would never see again. Slowly, she walked over to him and, upon seeing that it indeed was him, she cried, "Jason, oh my goodness. It's you! It really is!"

Jason turned around and embraced his old friend in a hug. "Hi, Chloe. How are you? I haven't seen you since we left school…six years. How are you?"

Chloe sat down at her desk and Jason sat down on the chair next to her. "I'm fine, thanks, Jason. After high school, I went to Met U and moved here. I'm friends with Oliver Queen, now."

"Oliver, wow!" Jason smiled at the memory of his childhood friend, then asked, "How's Clark, how's Lana?"

Hesitating slightly, Chloe turned her mobile phone on silent and vibrate, then answered, "Clark and Lana married. Six years ago, when they-and you-were 20 and they had two boys together, three in fact. They're separated now. They have been for over two months, their divorce is going through at the moment."

There was a silence, then Jason shook his head. "I always knew that Clark had feelings for her, even when she was with me." He swallowed and whispered, "I broke up with her because I thought that it was the best thing for her, Chloe, to protect her. I told her I loved her and she told me the same thing." He stood up and walked to the other side of the room. "It was the biggest mistake I've ever made. After leaving school, I couldn't stay in Smallville anymore, so Mum and I moved to France and I went to university there."

"Why are you here, have you come to patch things up with Clark?"

Jason shook his head. "No, I've come for your help." He walked back over to him and lowered his voice, "My mother's gone missing. She's all I have left, Chloe. Can you help me?"

"I think you should ask Oliver or Estrella for help; they'd be able to help more than I can." She grabbed her coat and she and Jason made their way to Oliver and Clark's flat, where they found Estrella on the phone to her twin.

Upon seeing Jason, she said something in Spanish, put down her phone and ran over to Jason. "Oh, my goodness! Jason Teague! I haven't seen you for years—over 20 years! I was so sorry to hear about your father."

Jason sat down next to her and replied, "Thanks. I actually need your help, Estrella-and Oliver and Lex's. How is Lex, I heard he's married now?"

Chloe walked into Oliver's kitchen and replied, "Yeah. Her name's Desiree. I don't think his father was too happy that he married her, but Lex loves her."

"How's Oliver?" Jason asked, looking at Estrella with great meaning in his eyes. "I haven't seen him since his parents' funeral?"

Estrella looked down at her hands, then back at Jason and whispered, "For obvious reasons, he isn't the same person you knew. But he isn't the man the tabloids paint him out to be, I promise." She added with a slight smile. As she said that, something crossed her mind and she said, "Look, why don't the two of you go and start looking on the Foundation computers and I'll catch you up?"

Chloe and Jason left and she texted Clark to ask him where he was.

**%%**

Clark knew that Estrella was hesitant to put a label on their relationship, as they had only been on a couple of dates and they had kissed. However, there was a part of Clark which knew that he was her 'safe choice' and that she really wanted to be with someone else.

When Estrella came to see him, he knew that there was something wrong. She sat down at his desk and asked, "Are you working on any stories?"

"Yeah, but I'll always have time for you." He replied, smiling, as he locked his computer.

Estrella sat there in silence for a couple of seconds, then whispered, "Clark, this isn't working. Us, I mean. You're not even officially divorced yet and you're still in love with Lana and I"-she broke off and looked down at her hands.

Taking hold of her hands, in the way a friend did, Clark asked, in a gentle voice, "You have feelings for someone else, don't you?" The slight nod of her head was the answer he needed. "Estrella, its fine and you're right. I am still in love with Lana, and, sometimes, I think that I always will be. You're my friend, Estrella." She looked up and they shared a hug. Before she walked away, Clark said, "Estrella, whoever this guy is, he's lucky to have you." He smiled, as he knew that it was Oliver whom Estrella fancied.

Estrella smiled back. "Thanks, Clark."

**%%**

Lois made her way to Oliver's office. Before knocking on the door, she inhaled a deep breath, then knocked her knuckles against the glass door and waited. The door opened and Oliver invited her in.

In this environment and in a suit, he looked almost like a different person and Lois almost felt sorry for him; he was almost living two lives. "Hey, Oliver" she smiled, as she walked over to the desk, "I need to talk to you about something."

Looking up from his laptop, Oliver smiled. "Well, if it's about Clark, it'll have to wait-I'm on business time."

"Does that fact that he's dating Estrella not bother you?" Lois snapped, without thinking. "You obviously have feelings for her, so why are you so calm about them dating?"

Oliver closed his laptop, with a load snap. "You know what, Lois? Seeing Estrella and Clark together is hard for me, but she's my childhood friend and he's my best friend, so as long as they're happy, then that's good. I'm not going to be like you-pining over someone who's never going to love you back!" He regretted it as soon as he saw the hurt in his friend's eyes, so he stood up and walked around to her, sitting on the front of the desk. "What can I do for you?" he asked, in a forced kind tone.

Regaining control of her temper and forcing herself to look in Oliver's eyes. "I need a job and I was wondering if you could help me. I have an English degree from Gotham University and since then, I've worked in different jobs. Do you have anything for me?"

"Lois, you-you have an English degree. Why don't you try to get a job at The Dailey Planet?"

Lois shook her head. "No; that would involve working and competing with my cousin and I don't think that that would do any good for our relationship. I do have a job, working at The Talon, but I'm looking for a change."

Oliver nodded and walked back to the other side of his desk. "Okay. I'll talk to some people and see if there's an opening on my staff for you. If there isn't, I'm sure you'll be able to find something."

As Lois turned to leave the office, the photo of Oliver and Estrella as children caught Lois's eyes. She looked at Oliver and asked, "Is that you and Estrella, as kids?"

Biting his lip, Oliver replied, "Yeah, it is. It was taken when we were 5."

"Were you close when you were kids?"

Oliver smiled and nodded. "Yeah, we were. We were best friends."

Lois smiled too and remarked, "Ollie, if you really want to be with her, if you like her, fight for her. I know that Clark did the same thing when Lana was dating Jason-he made his feelings for her clear and when Jason broke up with her, she knew that he felt the same way and she felt the same way." With that, she turned around and walked out of the office, leaving Oliver wondering what to do. He did want to be with Estrella, but did he want to risk his friendship with both Clark and Estrella?

**%%**

Chloe and Jason were searching for Jason's mother on the Foundation computers, and, so far, neither of them had had any luck. Chloe could tell that Jason was out of his mind with worry. His mother was the only family he had left, which was a situation which Chloe could understand. With their eyes glued to the computers, Jason said, "Thanks for helping me, Chloe." He hesitated, then added, "I know it must be hard, especially considering what happened to your mother."

"Jason, its fine. I'm fine; it happened nearly twenty years ago."

"I know, but having a parent leave is never an easy thing to deal with, especially when you're young." He remarked, thinking of how hard his father's death had been for both him and his mother. What if he had lost her too? That would mean that he was truly alone, just like Oliver was.

Chloe turned to look at Jason and whispered, "Jason, we'll find her. You won't have to lose another parent. I promise." She reached out for his hand and squeezed it. He returned the pressure and, before Chloe knew what was happing, Jason moved forwards and kissed her. As she registered what was happening (she had never been kissed anyone before), she closed her eyes and allowed herself to embrace what was happening. At secondary school, she would never have considered the idea that someone like Jason could have had feelings for someone like her.

Their moment of passion was broken by Estrella walking in. She cleared her throat and Chloe and Jason broke apart and removed their hands from the others. Smiling, Estrella rolled her eyes, then said, "Jason, I've found your mother; she's been staying in Lillian Luthor, Lex's mother, for a couple of weeks, in Star City."

Jason grabbed his coat and rushed out of the building, ordering a car to take him to Lillian Luthor's residence in Star City; the fact that she was there did not surprise Jason, as the two women had always been close friends, just as Estrella's mother had been best friends with Oliver's mother.

Estrella sat down in Jason's seat and asked Chloe, "What happened?" There was a mischievous tone to her voice.

Rolling her eyes, Chloe replied, "Well, we were just sitting here, working and I took hold of hand and he kissed me and I kissed him back. It was my first kiss."

"Have you always had feelings for him?"

Chloe laughed at the idea and shook her head. "No, I mean when we were at secondary school, Jason and I were just friends. He loved Lana and, after he broke up with her, he was too broken to date anyone. I didn't have feelings for him since I was a teenager, not like I have for Clark…but I don't want to read too much into this kiss, just in case he changes his mind and decides that he doesn't feel that way about me-you know what man can be like. What about you and Clark?"

Estrella smiled, then replied, "I broke up with him."

"Why?"

"Because he isn't the one I really want to be with." She replied, in a careful voice.

Chloe sighed. "But Oliver is, right?"

Estrella looked at her friend in shock. "How did you know that I have feelings for Oliver?"

"Because he feels the same way about you, Estrella; I can see it because of how he looks at you."

**%%**

That evening, when Kara was still at work, the other friends were having dinner in Chloe and Lois's flat. Matthew and Lewis were playing in living room and Seth was lying in the arms of his dad, which was making him very happy. Estrella had not said a word to Oliver that evening and she was not sure if she was going to; she wasn't sure if she was strong enough to follow her heart.

After dinner, when Oliver and Lois were doing the dishes, Oliver handed Lois a glass and said, in a low voice, "There's an opening for you at Queen Industries, if you're interested. It's a job in P.R."

"I would love that! Thank you." Lois smiled; she was glad that she would be able to have a job and that it would be somewhere which would allow her to be around men and to, finally, have another boyfriend.

There was a knock on the door and Jason came in, asking if he could talk to Chloe in the hallway. In a very nervous manner, Chloe followed him outside and closed the door. "Why do you look so nervous?"

Chloe decided to be honest and she murmured, "You're going to say that kissing me was a mistake. Girls like me don't get boys like you, Jason. I should know that by now."

Instead of protested with words, Jason reached down and kissed her softly on the lips, before replying, "That's where you're wrong, Chloe. I really like you and I want this to work." Chloe smiled and they kissed again, before she asked, "Do you want to go to The Talon and have a cup of coffee?"

Jason agreed, took hold of her hand the two of them walked away.

Back in Chloe's bedroom, Clark sat on the bed, with his mobile phone in his hands. Lois walked in and asked, "Hey, Smallville. What's up?"

Clark looked up at his friend and sighed. "That was Lana. My-er-my marriage is over; we're officially divorced. I never thought that this would happen. I thought Lana and I would be together forever, but I guess I was wrong. I'm a bad judge of character."

"No, you're not," Lois protested, as Clark stood up, "but you do let people walk all over you."

Smiling with a certain feeling in his chest, Clark retorted, "I guess that explains why you and I are friends."

A smile spread across Lois's face. In a playful tone, she asked, "So, we're friends now?"

"Well, I won't tell anyone if you don't." Clark replied. As he said that, their eyes met and Clark was suddenly aware that, when he looked at Lois, that he was experiencing a rather strange feeling, a feeling which he could not describe. Almost a pull towards her.

Lois, who knew what the feeling which she was feeling, broke the eye contact which she and Clark had been holding for a couple of seconds and she punched him on the arm, as it was her way of reacting to her feelings for him. After that, she walked over to the door and turned back. He turned around to look at her and their eyes met again. Lois threw him a smile, then walked out of the room.

** %%**

Once Oliver and Estrella were back in Oliver and Clark's flat, Oliver asked, "Are you alright? You seem very quiet?" He passed her a cup of coffee and sat down on the sofa next to her.

Estrella sipped the coffee and sighed. "I-er-I broke up with Clark, this morning and I'm just-running through it all in my head."

Oliver bit his lip and whispered, "Look, I know that you and me is never going to happen and I'm starting to accept that," their eyes met, "but that doesn't mean that I don't care about you, Estrella."

Before Estrella had the chance to explain why she had ended her relationship with Clark, Oliver stood up, kissed her on the head and walked into his bedroom. Estrella put down her cup of coffee and buried her head in her hands, crying. Why she had not just told him the truth and told him that she wanted to be with him? Oliver sat on his bed, with his head in his hands, wondering what to do next. He wanted to be with Estrella so badly, but it was too much of a risk.


	7. Chapter 7: Love & betrayal, part 1

**I do not own Smallville. **

**This story is eventually, be a Clois one, but it's going to take time, as I want to evolve like their relationship does in the series. Let me know what you think of Chloe and Jason and Oliver and Estrella. :). Read, enjoy and, please, review. **

Chapter 7: Love and betrayal-part 1.

A month later, the newlywed couple returned from their honeymoon, both looking very happy and tanned. As husband and wife, they spent a couple of days with Lex's mother in Star City, before returning to Metropolis. Clark had never seen his friend happier and that made him have hope for Lex, as he did worry about him, but he was happy with Desiree, which put his mind at ease.

Chloe and Jason were now officially, boyfriend and girlfriend and Jason had taken a job in Metropolis, so that he could be as close to both his mother and girlfriend as he possibly could.

On a Saturday morning, when Chloe, Lois and Estrella were having lunch in Oliver and Clark's flat, Lois asked, "So, Chloe, have you and Jason told the papers that you're together?"

Chloe shook her head and replied, "Of course we haven't; it's none of their business, so why should we tell them?"

"Because he's Jason Teague and people are interested in his personal life and you're his girlfriend and the press are going to find out." As she stood up, she asked, "Where are they guys anyway? We're in their flat, but they're not here."

"Oliver's closing a business deal at his office, with my brother," replied Estrella.

Lois turned to her. "Ok, what the heck is going on between you and Oliver? You're obviously crazy about each other, so what's taking you so long?"

Estrella looked down at her hands and whispered, "It's complicated. I broke up with Clark because of Oliver and then, before I could tell him that, he said that he was accepting the fact that he and I would never be together. Knowing Oliver, it's probably his way of protecting himself. As far as I know, he's never had a girlfriend. I just-I just wish that something would make him make a move. Does that make sense?"

Her friends agreed, then Chloe asked, "How about the three of us go to the beach today? Just us girls? We can ask Kara if she'd like to come, which I'm sure she could, considering that the newly weds are going to be back soon." Lois and Estrella agreed and Estrella walked into her room and began packing clothes for the beach.

The door opened and Jason came in. He walked over to his girlfriend and enveloped her in a hug, at which point Lois stood up and went to the kitchen, as she did not want to see her cousin behaving like that.

"How's your day going?" Jason asked, as he took Lois's place on the sofa and took hold of Chloe's hands.

"It's been ok, thanks. Lois, Estrella and I are going to go to the beach for the weekend. Do you want to come with us?" She knew that Lois and Estrella would not mind if Jason went. He replied that he would love to, then Chloe went to the kitchen to get a drink. Lois was sitting at the kitchen table, reading and she refused to go back into the sitting room, whilst Jason was there, with her cousin.

Chloe sat back down with her boyfriend and he turned on the T.V. After a while of just watching the rugby, Jason asked, "Chloe, in high school, did anything ever happen between you and Clark?"

Very surprised at this question, Chloe looked up from her book and replied, "No. Clark and I are just friends and we always have been."

"Yeah, but you did have feelings for him, in high school, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did, but we were just friends." Her eyes met with Jason's and she knew that he wanted more of an explanation. "He was always either drooling over Lana or dating her, so Lois and I never really stood a chance. There-there were moments between us, when I thought that something might happen, that we could be more than friends, but it never happened, so I accepted that and moved on. Have you moved on from Lana?" she asked, in a gentle voice.

Jason shrugged. "She was my first love. I guess a part of me will always love her, no matter who I'm with." He had not meant to be so honest, but Chloe picked up on it and she knew that, deep down, she and Jason were not meant to be together, because he was still in love with Lana and he always would be.

Sighing, Jason asked, "When-when was Lana first…intimate with Clark, do you know?"

Chloe chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know. I had the unforchante experience of walking in on them once and I was scarred for life." She laughed, then returned to her serious composure. "They did it when they were 19, after being together for three years. They loved each other and, to be honest, I was surprised that they hadn't done it before then. Soon after that, Lana moved in with Clark and his parents and a year later, they married. It was all so simple, they had such a simple relationship-or on the surface, that's how it seemed."

"Did she ever mention or talk about me? I mean, when she was with Clark?" Jason inquired, in a voice so soft that Chloe nearly missed it.

Chloe bit her lip and replied, "She told me that she often wondered where you were, because you disappeared after they left school. She also said that, when you were together, you didn't want to make love with her. Is that true?"

Jason ran his hands through his hair and squeezed Chloe's hands. "We were 15 and 16. Of course I loved her, but it never occurred to me that I should have done that with her. I've never loved anyone the way I've loved her. I've never been intimate with anyone, because I can never get close enough, because I'm worried that they'll either leave me or die."

"Is that why you broke up with Lana?"

"I broke up with her to protect herself from me, but I loved her with all of my heart." There was a silence and he asked, "You won't leave me, will you?"

Chloe replied with a kiss on the lips and squeezed his hands back. "Even if this ends and we're just friends, I will always be here for you." She knew that her relationship with Jason was not going to last, so there was no point in pretending that they had something special, something permanent, because that would have been unfair to her and to him. Jason kissed her back and Chloe smiled, more to herself than to her boyfriend.

The door to Oliver and Clark's flat opened and Clark and Kara walked in. Kara had her youngest nephew in her arms and Matthew and Lewis followed.

Lois heard Clark and Kara enter and returned to the sitting room and asked, "Hey, Kara, do you want to come with me, Chloe and Estrella to the beach for the weekend? And Jason's coming too!"

Kara agreed and returned home to begin packing. Clark walked over to his old friend and asked, "Why are you going?"

"I can swim, you know, Clark." Jason laughed; he knew why Clark was asking, but his relationship with Chloe was none of Clark's business, so he was not going to give him an answer.

A couple of hours later, when Lois, Chloe and Kara were ready to go to the beach, with Jason, they called Estrella and she did not reply, so they went to Oliver's flat, where she was staying. Upon not finding Estrella, they decided to go and tell Oliver that she was not there.

"What do you mean she isn't in my flat? She should be there!" Oliver was very angry that his friend was not there. He crossed the length of his office and asked, "Did anything look disturbed in her bedroom? Did it look as if anything strange had happened in there?"

"Yes." They turned to see Estrella's twin brother, Santiago. He walked over to Oliver. "My father received a phone call which threatened Estrella's life, but he didn't take it seriously, because…he's our father. Oliver, I think I know who has taken Estrella, but I need your help to find her."

Oliver walked back over to his desk. "Of course I'll help."

Santiago left to go back to his residence in Metropolis and he told Oliver that he would call Oliver as soon as he had any information of his sister's whereabouts. Oliver sat back down in his chair and his eyes fell on the photo of him and Estrella, when they had been children. What if he never saw her again? What if he never had the chance to tell her how much she meant to him? That he loved her. He suddenly remembered that Chloe, Lois and Kara were there and asked, in a faked cheerful voice, "Shouldn't you three ladies be on your way to the beach?"

Lois shook her head and replied, "No. We're not leaving until we know Estrella's ok." She hesitated, then she added, "Oliver, we know how much Estrella means to you and she feels the same way about you."

"No. She doesn't."

Kara rolled her eyes and snapped, "Yes, she does, Oliver. She broke up with Clark because of you; because she wanted to be with you, but you closed yourself off before she had the chance to tell you that. And now she's gone and she'll never know how you feel!"

Running his hands through his hair, Oliver whispered, with tears in his eyes, "She'll die without ever knowing; I never had the guts to tell her…" He broke off and wiped away his tears. "Can you leave me alone? Please?" The last word was almost him begging them, so the three of them left silently, as Oliver prayed that Estrella was alright.

As they returned at Chloe and Lois's flat, Clark walked in and, seeing the look on their faces, asked, "What's going on?"

Kara sighed and told him that Estrella was missing and that people were searching for her, but Oliver was broken.

At lunchtime, Dr. Vincent Swann and Alba Lopez arrived in Metropolis and went directly to their son, who told them that he could find no trace of Estrella anywhere and that the police had no idea where she was. Alba declared that she was never going to give up on her daughter, but her partner told her that it was no use: Estrella was really gone and there was no point in pretending otherwise.

Alba and Vincent made their way to Queen Tower, where Oliver was sitting on his laptop, trying desperately to find Estrella. Upon seeing Alba and Vincent, he stood up. "Dr. Swann, Ms. Lopez, how are you?"

Alba walked over to him and pulled him into a hug. "We've been better, Oliver, but so have you, I daresay." There was a silence, then she whispered, "Oliver, we can't find Estrella."

"She has to be somewhere!" Oliver cried. "She has to be somewhere! I've lost everyone I have ever loved. I don't want to lose her too!"

Dr. Vincent raised his eyebrows and asked. "Do you love my daughter?"

Looking down at his feet, Oliver nodded. "Yes, I do."

"Did you tell her?" Alba asked, although she had a sickening feeling as to what the answer was.

The answer was in Oliver's facial expressions and he ran his hands across his face and whispered, "I can't-cannot believe that she's really gone."

Before Estrella's parents could offer him a word of comfort, he picked up his coat and walked out of the room and made his way to Chloe and Lois's, as he did not want to be in his flat at the moment, as there were memories of Estrella there.

It was late evening before Oliver spoke to his friends and even then, he said very little to any of them; he felt guilty that he had not taken his chance with Estrella when he had had it, right in front of him. Why had he been so scared to take a risk? It would have been worth it. He loved her. Chloe made dinner for the others, but Oliver refused to eat and he sat on the window seat, looking out at the rain, as it fell from the sky, onto the window pain and down onto the pavements.

Lex entered, with Desiree at his side and Chloe saw Kara's facial expression darken; she knew that this would be hard for Kara, but she also knew that Kara was strong and that she would get past it and find someone else.

Lex walked over Oliver. "Oliver," he spoke in a quiet tone, "I've found Estrella."

"Don't even say that, Lex!" Oliver snapped, glaring at him. "It's a sick joke, even for you!"

Sighing, Lex tried again. "Oliver, I wouldn't lie to you. Not about this. I know what it's like to love someone like you love Estrella. I know how that feels and I know how it feels when you lose them."

Oliver ignored him and continued to look out of the window at the rain.

"Oliver?" he heard her voice and turned around and saw that she was standing by the door. She was alive. She was here.

He ran over to her, bent down and kissed passionately kissed her and she kissed him back with the same force. They both closed their eyes and her arms travelled up to his neck and she left them there, as it felt like a safe position and his hands found her waist. When their kiss ended, they both opened her eyes and rested their heads against each other and felt the tears of the checks of the other. Oliver reached out and wiped away her tears. "You're alive." He whispered.

Joining her hands together around his neck, Estrella nodded. "_Si_. And I'm never leaving again, at least not without you. Where I've been doesn't matter. What matters is that I'm here and I'm with you, Oliver." She went on her tiptoes and they kissed again, before embracing each other in a tight hug.

Meanwhile, their friends watched, both glad and stunned, as they could not believe that Oliver and Estrella were finally together. Their happiness was great, as Oliver and Estrella made a good couple.


	8. Chapter 8: Love and betrayal, part 2

**I do not own Smallville. Enjoy and please review and let me know what you think of the pairings so far and the pending pairings. Where do you think Estrella was and why will she not tell Oliver? :)**

Chapter 8: Love and betrayal, part 2.

The next morning, Chloe, Lois and Jason went to the beach; Estrella did not want to go, as she and Oliver had a great deal to discuss and Kara had to stay in Metropolis and work, much to her disappointment. Clark was spending the day with his sons, playing with them, as he felt as if he had neglected them for the past couple of months.

When Oliver was in his office, the person on the other side of the intercom told him that Lionel Luthor was there to see him. Wondering what Lionel Luthor wanted, Oliver said that he could come up. He put the photographs of his brother and the one of Estrella in his desk draw and looked it, as he did not want to give Lionel Luthor any more ammunition that the man already had. The door opened and Lionel Luthor came in, wearing what Oliver recognised as an Aramni suit and the young man inwardly rolled his eyes.

Oliver stood up, as Lionel walked over to him, with his usual arrogant air. "Ah, Oliver. It's good to see that you've settled down into Metropolis now. That's very good, indeed."

"Well, I have lived here for a couple of years, Lionel." Oliver replied, with a certain tone in his voice.

There was a pause, then Lionel remarked, "I hear that Dr. Swann's daughter is in Metropolis. What's her name? Estrella? If I recalled correctly, the two of you were the best of friends in your childhood. I remember that your parents-hers and yours-dared hope that the two of you would, one day, end up together." He chuckled. "What parents wish for their children is a funny thing, isn't it? Have you had a chance to talk to Estrella since her coming here?"

Nodding, Oliver replied, "Yes, I have. Lex returned from his honeymoon yesterday, didn't he?"

Lionel shook his head. "Yes, I have to admit that I don't really approve of his marrying Desiree and I told him so, but, if he's happy, then who am I to stand in his way? As his father, all I want us for his happiness." Oliver resisted the urge to roll his eyes, as the older man was annoying him. "I wonder what your parents would have thought about your relationships, Oliver."

Oliver walked over to Lionel, after calculating that he was now taller than the senior Luthor. He looked him in the eye and replied, "For your information, I've only ever been in one relationship and it is known of your business."

"And you're 26 and unmarried. You need to produce an heir for your company." Lionel continued, before continuing, "You know, Geneviève also wanted Jason to settle down with Lana Lang, but now he's dating Chloe Sullivan. She works in the city. Do you know her?"

"I met her a couple of years ago, but since then, our paths have never crossed." Oliver answered, never breaking eye contact with Lionel Luthor; he always wondered why his parents had been friends with such a man, as there was nothing redeeming about the man at all, to any stretch of the imagination.

Lionel broke eye contact, walked over to Oliver's desk and picked up the photograph of Oliver with his parents. The older man shook his head and whispered, "Bella and Isaac would not have been pleased about how you treated Lex." With that, he put the photo down and walked out of the office.

Oliver sat down in his chair and his eyes fell on the photo of him and his parents. He lived his life wondering, hoping, that they would be happy with the person he was, but he sometimes doubted that that was the case and it made him feel sick.

**%%%%**

Meanwhile, Clark was spending the day with Lewis, Matthew and Seth and he realised how much he had missed his three sons. He felt very guilt about leaving them with his parents for all of that time, but he had felt as if he had had no choice about the matter, but now he saw that he had been selfish about leaving them; they had already lost their mother, so why should they loose him as well?

As he went to the door of Oliver's flat, he heard a hushed voice on the other side of the door. After checking that his sons were in their rooms, he pressed his ear against the door and listened. It was Desiree. "Sir, I promise you, I will sell the deal. Lex Luthor will be dead by the time the day is out. Trust me, I know what I'm doing." With that, she walked away and Clark stood at the other side of the door, motionless. With whom had she been speaking and why was she going to kill her own husband? It made no sense.

"Estrella!" Clark called for his friend and she emerged from Seth's room, with the baby in her arms; Clark smiled slightly, as he was glad that his youngest son was receiving some female attention and love, from someone besides his family and closest friends.

"What is it, Clark?"

Clark shook his head. "This is going to sound crazy, but I just heard Desiree say that she was going to kill Lex."

Smiling, Estrella laughed. "Clark, it's an expression."

"No, she sounded serious." Kara walked into the flat. "I heard her too, Clark. Estrella, can we use your company's system to do a background check on her? You do that, I'll go check on the boys." She took Seth into her arms and walked into Matthew and Lewis's bedroom.

Estrella placed her laptop on her knee and typed in her password. "What was her maiden name?" she asked, as she accessed the internet.

Sitting down next to her, Clark replied, "Atkins." Estrella typed in the name, but the computer flashed with 'no results'. "Ok, I guess she doesn't have a record, but that doesn't mean that what Kara and I heard wasn't serious."

Biting her lip, Estrella sighed. "Clark, of course Kara's going to think that Lex's wife is plotting against him. Think about it: she hates the woman for even being with Lex. It wouldn't be the first time that jealousy has caused someone to do something along these lines."

"I know my sister better than anyone and she wouldn't do something like that-besides, she and Lex are good friends, that's all."

Just as Estrella was about to retort, a suggestion appeared to her laptop; it was Desiree's name backwards: Snikta Errised. "It's her maiden name backwards." She clicked on it and the page loaded. "Oh, my goodness."

"What is it?" asked Kara; she had stayed with her nephews until she knew that Estrela had found something and she sat on the other side of Estrella, turning her full attention to the laptop.

Inhaling a deep breath because of what she was reading, Estrella looked away from the screen. "Desiree-or Snikta, as that's her real name-has already been married five times, to very rich men. She's been married for them for about a month and then they've died in tragic accidents. After her last conviction, she obviously changed her name."

Kara stood up. "We have to tell Lex."

Her brother stared at her and replied, "Kara, we can't just ambush him with it; he'd be crushed. We have to do it by the police."

Glaring at him, Kara shouted, "Fine, you stay here and play it by the book-meanwhile, Lex will be added to the list of her husbands whom she murdered! I'm not prepared to stand by and watch my friend die, so I'm going to take this to him. What the two of you do is up to you, but I know that I'm doing the right thing!" With that, she ran out of flat and ran to find Lex, to warn him.

**%%%%**

Chloe and Lois were sitting in a café, on the beach, watching the children play in the sea. "Jason and I have agreed to go public about our relationship." Chloe told her cousin, as she knew that she had been wanting that piece of information. "We thought that if people find out about this trip, they may start asking questions."

Lois looked down at her hands, then asked, "Can I ask you something? Have you and Jason-you know-yet?"

Blushing, Chloe replied, "No. No, we haven't. I never had." She bit her lip, as she had not meant to tell Lois that, though she knew that her cousin had probably guessed.

Just as Lois was about to say something, Chloe saw her face fall into a state of shock and tears started to form in her eyes. Chloe turned around and saw the source of Lois's distress: Arthur Curry (or Arthur Curry as he was better known), the man whom Lois had been going to marry. He made his way over to the table and Lois quickly brushed away the tears, as she did not want him to know that even seeing him had that affect on her.

"Hey, Lois. Hi, Chloe."

Forcing a smile, Lois asked, "Have you not learnt? Green and orange clash!" she laughed and he did, but their eyes met and they were asking each other silent questions.

Chloe stood up. "I'm going to go and find Jason. Ok?" her cousin nodded slightly and she walked away, but made sure that she could see what was happening, as she did not want her cousin to be hurt again.

Slowly, A.C sat down in Chloe's vacant seat and asked, in a slightly awkward voice, "So, how are you?"

Looking down at her cup of coffee, Lois replied, "I'm fine, I've got a job working for Queen Industries." There was a silence, then she asked, "A.C, what are you doing here?"

"I've spent the last…however many months trying to find you, but I should've just guessed that you'd be there, in Metropolis." He reached into his pocket, produced a letter and dropped it on the table. "Why did you leave?" he asked. "I know that you told me in the letter, but I want to hear it from you, Lois."

Lois bit her lip and looked up at her ex-fiancée. "I love you, AC, I always have, but I couldn't marry you-there was something in my gut which was telling me not to. I don't know what it was, but I had to trust it. I'm so sorry for hurting you."

A.C took hold of her hand, and, much to her surprise, Lois did not pull away. In a soft voice, he asked, "Why don't you come back to Gotham with me? We don't have to get married-or engaged, we can just live together. I love you and you love me, so why not?" Before she could answer, he pulled his hand away and stood up. "I'm going to be here for a couple of months. You know where to find me." He smiled his signature smile and Lois could not help herself but to smile back; she still loved him. He knew it and so did she.

Chloe and Jason watched the situation from afar and Jason asked, "Do you think they'll get back together?"

"I hope so," replied his girlfriend, "they love each other. Besides, I hear that people never really get over their first loves." When she said that, there was a meaniful edge to her voice and she and Jason made eye contact.

Jason sighed and asked, "Do you think I'm still in love with Lana?"

Smiling, Chloe shook her head. "No, I don't-I know you are." Chloe took hold of his hand and continued, "Jason, what you and I have is more attraction than anything else-something which was never there when we were kids. As hard as this is for me to say, this relationship isn't fair on either of us and it was only a matter of time before it ended."

"Do you not care about me?" Jason asked, his eyes searching hers.

Chloe squeezed his hand. "I do, but as a friend. You can never truly be committed to me, or love, because you still love Lana, and that's fine, Jason. We can't always control whom we love."

Jason returned the pressure on her hand and asked, "So, we'll stay friends, right?"

Chuckling, she nodded. "Of course we'll stay friends, Jason." She leaned over the table and they hugged.

As they parted, the both laughed, then Jason informed her that he was going to go back to Paris and asked her if they would stay in touch this time. Chloe replied that they would. Before he left, he turned back, smiling. "Chloe, I hope you find the person you're looking for, your true love, I mean."

"And I hope that you find Lana."

%%%%

After presenting the evidence to Lex, Kara took the evidence to her superiors in the police and Desiree was arrested, but not before Lex called his lawyers and requested a divorce, which, given the circumstances, was granted immediately. Estrella guessed that Kara's help had not just been to help Lex, but also to prove to Lex how much she was willing to do for him and she felt sorry for Kara.

That evening, when Estrella returned home, to Oliver's flat, she collapsed onto the sofa and closed her eyes. The others had all gone back to Chloe and Lois's for dinner, but she was too tired to do so. She picked up the newspaper which she had purchased on her way home and saw that Lex and Dessiree's divorce was already in the news.

She picked up her mobile phone and called her parents. She spoke to her dad for half an hour, then to her mum, in Spanish, for the same amount of time. Estrella had mainly been raised by her grandmother, Marie, but she loved her parents and understood why they had left her and her brother in Spain, with their grandmother.

An hour later, when she was in her pyjamas and was about to watch something on the television, the door opened and Oliver walked in and he looked just as tired as she felt. "Rough day?" He asked, referring to her actions of the day. He changed out of his suit into a jumper and jeans and sat down next to her on the sofa.

"What happened between Lex and the ex-Mrs. Luthor?" he asked, referring to the divorce.

Estrella slipped her hand into his and replied, "She was plotting to kill him. She had a track record of killing her wealthy husbands. She changed her name, so that it would be harder for people to track her down. I did it, though." She giggled.

Oliver laughed and smiled. "I'm sure you did. You have many skills, Estrella." He paused, then added, "Lionel Luthor came to see me this morning. He said that-that our parents wanted us to be together. Is that true?"

"I always knew that my parents thought that you and I would be a good match. And they were right, weren't they?" They shared a kiss, then Oliver asked, "Estrella, who kidnapped you, where did you go?"

Estrella froze for a second, then rested her head on Oliver's shoulder and whispered, "Oliver, where I was doesn't matter; what's important is that I'm here now."

Oliver knew that there was no point in asking her again, as she was as stubborn as him, so he asked, "When did you start to have feelings for me?" it had been a question which he had bene wondering ever since they had become a couple.

Smiling, Estrella whispered, "I knew when I first met you in your office. When you first kissed me, I pulled away because I was afraid that, if the first person I dated was someone whom I could really love…that that would be risky. Really risky."

"What quelled that fear?"

Their eyes met and Estrella whispered, "The thought that I would never see you again. It made me realise that, even though it's a risk, it's one which is worth taking."

Oliver smiled and whispered back. "That's when I realised too." He moved his face closer to hers and they kissed, closing their eyes, savouring their feelings and the moment.

**%%%%**

Later that evening, Lois knocked on the door a hotel door. It opened and she walked in.

"I'm really sorry for walking out on you," she told AC, "I wish I had a better explanation. Do you think that we could just be friends, take things slowly and…see where that takes us?"

A.C nodded. "That sounds perfect, Lois. I'll see you tomorrow."

When the door was closed, he smiled to himself, as he knew that she still loved him and that this "friendship" would not last for very long. On the other side of the door, Lois smiled to herself too, as she knew that she felt the same way as him and taking it slowly made her feel safe, but also knew that that would not last for long.


	9. Chapter nine: The beginning of the end

**I do not own Smallville or any of the charecters. Enjoy and, please, review. **

Chapter 9: The beginning of the end.

A month passed and the group of friends started to settle more into their lives and routines. Estrella now lived in a flat of her own; she and Oliver were still dating, but she did not want to live with him yet. Kara was away on business and AC was still working in Metropolis.

On a Friday morning, when Oliver was in his office, his assistant told him that Lex was there to see him. Wondering what Lex wanted, considering the two of them never really spoke to each other, Oliver said that he could come up and he waited for the other young man.

Lex felt slightly nervous about going to see Oliver; besides being in a group, the two of them had not interacted since they had been children and that had not been a very pleasant experience, as Oliver had bullied Lex during their time at boarding school, but he was determined to show Oliver that he was not the vulnerable, young boy whom he had once been and that he was prepared to face him and no longer afraid.

The door opened, Lex walked in and Oliver stood up.

"Oliver, I need your help. I need you to help me find a woman, named Victoria Hardwick."

Oliver bit his lap and sighed, "As in the daughter of Sir. Harry Hardwick? The CEO of Hardwick Corp? Why would you want to try to find her?" He paused, then asked, "Oh. Is she a-er-an old acquaintance of yours?"

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Lex answered, "She and I were friends, years ago-like you and Estrella. I just want to find her, talk to her. If you won't help me, I'm sure Estrella will."

"Lex," Oliver had an authoritative tone to his voice, as he said, "Victoria Hardwick-if you're arrangement is not regarding business, I would not recommend that you get caught on her radar. She isn't the kind of woman you want to be around."

Glaring at him, Lex snapped, "Whilst we were at boarding school, whilst you were studying, I was spending time with girls and that's when I learnt about what it means to be a man."

"Yeah-because you have such good taste in women!" Oliver retorted, as he walked over to Lex. "Oh, wait, you don't! You married a woman who was a serial killer. Don't take this to Estrella! Leave her out of it!"

"That's a lot coming from a man who hasn't even told the press that you and Estrella are dating! What kind of relationship do the two of you have, seriously? Have you even done it yet or are you too spineless to do that? Do you even love her?"

Oliver looked Lex in the eye and hissed, "My relationship with Estrella is none of your business. I care about her and that's all you need to know and she cares about me."

"This coming from a man who's afraid of commitment because the people he loves always die." Lex sighed, then added, "I've been civil to you-for Clark's sake, because he's my friend and I don't want to hurt him, but I can only endure so much. You made my life a living hell for years, so don't pretend that you're some kind of amazing person, because you aren't."

There was a silence, then Oliver broke their gaze and stepped backwards, away from Lex. "You found your way in, you can find your way out. And, Lex." He added, as Lex reached the door. "Stay away from Victoria Hardwick-she's bad news." He received a glare and he stormed out of Oliver's office.

Lex made his way to 'The Daily Planet', as he wanted to talk to Clark before Oliver did, as he wanted to give his friend the truth rather than what Oliver was going to tell him. He could not find him, so he went to Chloe desk and asked where Clark was; Chloe replied that he was working with Estrella on a story and that they would be at the Metropolis Lopez-Swann building.

He barged into the main office and found Clark sitting at a computer in Estrella's office. "Clark, Stella, I need your help."

Looking up from the laptop, Clark asked, "Yeah, sure, with what?"

Lex walked over to his friend and answered, "I need you to help me to track down a woman named Victoria Hardwick."

"No." Lex turned around and saw Estrella standing in the room, with her arms crossed, with her mobile phone in her hand. "No, Clark-don't help him. Oliver's just called me and it's a bad idea."

Shaking his head, Lex hissed, "Do you believe everything your boyfriend tells you?"

Looking him in the eye and not flinching, Estrella answered, "Yes I do. He's just called me and told me that you're looking for Victoria. I agree with Oliver, it's a bad idea. He's doing it to try to protect you, Lex-no matter what you think." She turned her attention to Clark. "Don't help him, no matter what he tells you; the woman whom he seeks is dangerous." She opened the door and left the office, leaving Clark and Lex alone.

After a moment of silence, Clark asked, "What's going on, Lex?" There was a look in his eyes which forbade Lex from even considering lying to him, so he sat back down next his friend and began. "About a month ago, after my divorce, I-I had a couple of one night stands. One of the women was Victoria and I just want to make sure that she's ok."

"So why does Oliver say that she can't be trusted?"

"Her family have quite a bad history, in terms of…persuading people to let go of their companies, so naturally, Oliver and Estrella are concerned, but I've never had a bad dealing with her family and nor has my father. I think that the Queens and the Lopez-Swanns take a different approach to things than Luthors do." He smiled, then looked down at his hands. "But Oliver was right about something; I do have terrible judgement when it comes to women and I treat them awfully. I spent the night with them and then don't call them back. Who does that?"

There was a knock on the door and a woman walked in, with long dark hair. "Lex." She spoke with a distinctly English accent and Clark had already guessed who she was. "Your father told me that you were looking for me. Here I am. What is it that you wish to discuss?"

Lex stood up and replied, "I just wanted to make sure that you were alright."

She smiled and walked over to him, ignoring Clark. "I'm fine, but I would like to extend our relationship further than one night. Will you go to dinner with me tonight?" The response was in his eyes, so she smiled and walked away. Clark rolled his eyes.

As Lois entered her office at Queen Industries, she saw someone in her office. It was A.C. Rolling her eyes, she asked, "What are you doing here, fish-boy?"

Smiling, her ex-fiancée answered, "I wanted to come and see you in your new environment. I have to say, you studied English. How you ended up here is a mystery, but it suits you."

"Sometimes people can surprise you," Lois uttered in a whisper, before stating, in a stronger voice, "I have a lot of work to do, so is there anything else you need?" She wanted him out of her office so that she could focus on her work.

Their eyes met and there was a silence, before AC shook his head and replied, "No. I'll see you later, then." With that, he walked out, leaving Lois alone, wondering: there was a part of her which wanted to focus on the present, one what she had now and the job she had now, but there was a part of her which also wanted to live in the past, with AC and she knew that she needed to decide which half of her was going to win the battle. She knew that AC still loved her and she still loved him, but did she really want to be with him again, as it would mean living in the past, being the person she had been as opposed to the person she had become?

At lunchtime, Oliver invited Estrella to his office, so that, whilst they were both working, they could eat and spend time together. As they were eating, Oliver suddenly asked, "Do you think we should tell people that we're together?"

Confused, Estrella replied, "My parents know, my brother, your friends know." She paused and sighed. "You mean the public?" It wasn't really a question. "I thought we agreed that our relationship wasn't the business of anyone?"

In barley a whisper, Oliver asked, "Are you ashamed to be seen with me?"

Estrella stared up at him, with hurt and worry in her eyes. She crossed the table and sat down next to him. "Oliver, I would never be ashamed to be with you. It's just-it's just this that this is the first relationship I've ever been in so I want to take things slow, which we are, I just don't want to feel pressured."

"Okay, so we don't tell people-but what if the press work it out and blow it into something it isn't?" He sighed and placed his hand on the side of her face. "I care about you and I don't want to rush you into anything, but the press can be brutal and it can destroy relationships."

Shaking her head, Estrella rested her head against his hand and whispered, "I care about you, too, Oliver, but I don't want to do anything until I'm ready." She stood up, picked up her bag and left the office, leaving Oliver frustrated with himself, worried that he had pushed her away.

Lois walked into her and Chloe's flat, looking for her cousin, but instead, she found Clark. "Smallville," she asked, as she took off her coat, "have you seen Chloe?"

"She's at work," replied Clark, "I'm on a break. How are you?" When Lois did not reply, he added, "Look, I know that you and I haven't been friends for years-since Lana and I left school, really-but you are still my friend and I do care about you."

Shaking her head, Lois muttered, "No. I can't have this conversation with anyone besides from Chloe." She bit her lip and conceding, she sat down on the sofa opposite Clark. "I-I'm just having all of these feelings and I'm struggling to work out what they all mean." She cleared her throat, then continued, "I first met AC when we were 18-I moved to Gotham to go to university there and that's when I met him. We-we hit it off straight away and began dating and we remained together throughout university. After we graduated, we moved in together and that was when our relationship…took a different turn, shall we say. Anyway, a year ago, he asked me to marry him and I accepted, but a couple of months before the wedding, I realised that I couldn't marry him. I guess there was something inside of me that knew that it wasn't the right thing to do, so I came here." She laughed nervously and whispered, "You must think I'm mad."

Clark shook his head and replied, "No, Lois; I know-I understand-how hard it is to get over your first love; there are times when I wonder if a part of me will always love Lana, no matter if I'm with anyone else and I'm sure that's the way A.C feels about you."

"I wasn't his first love-I mean, I kind of was, but I kind of wasn't. Before he met, he had a…fling with a girl named Mera. It wasn't a proper relationship, but…she wasn't me." A part of Lois could not believe that she had been so open with Clark, but a part of her was not; whilst their relationship had always been a complicated one, due to her feelings for him, she had always trusted him more than anyone, besides her sister and Chloe.

That evening, Lionel Luthor made his way to Estrella's office and waited in there for her to return. When she entered, she froze for a second, then recovered herself and asked, "What do you want?"

"Is that any way to great an old friend?"

Glaring at him, Estrella spat, "So you call kidnapping someone something a friend would do? Why did you do it and then release me? You let everyone believe that I was dead for hours, and then you released me! Why did you do that?"

Lionel smiled cruelly. "It was my way of testing Oliver-I wanted to see how he'd react if he lost someone else whom he loved."

"Oliver doesn't love me." Estrella hissed back, her eyes fixed on the older man.

There was a dead, haunted silence, then Lionel walked closer to her. "You and Oliver have known each other since childhood, haven't you? Your loyalty to him must be something which untestable. Let me lay my cards before you, Miss. Lopez-Swann," his voice had changed to a sincere whisper, "if you don't leave his life, I will kill Oliver Queen."

"You're lying," Estrella replied, instantly, "you wouldn't dare."

Lionel chuckled and it send a shiver down Estrella's spine. "I have the money, you know. With one phone call, I could have him killed, but I won't, if you leave."

Maintaining eye contact with him, Estrella asked, in a strong voice, "Why would you want me to leave? What would you gain from that?"

Looking down at the floor and smiling, Lionel replied, "Why would you take the risk, Estrella? Do you want to loose him and know that one simple action from you could have prevented it?" With that, he stepped back and walked out. As soon as he was gone, Estrella buried her head in her hands and her entire body shock. Questions were running through her mind: why would Lionel want Oliver dead? Would he really kill him, if she didn't leave? His words kept echoing in her head: "Why would you take the risk, Estrella?"

Later that evening, when Oliver entered Estrella's flat, he found all of her suitcases in the living room. He called Estrella and when she did not answer, he ran into her bedroom and found her fastening up a coat. "What are you doing?"

Without looking at him, she replied, "I need to leave."

Oliver crossed her bedroom. "Is this because of what I said earlier? Estrella, I'm sorry, I was just trying to protect you."

"And you have," she turned to face him, fighting back tears, "and now it's my turn to do the same for you and I can't do that if I stay here, I have to leave Metropolis. I have to leave you."

Shaking his head, Oliver replied, "No. You're not leaving. I've already lost my parents, my brother, sister, I won't loose you too."

"Oliver, I have to leave!" Estrella snapped. "I have to leave, it's the only way I can keep you safe!"

"I don't care about myself, I care about you and I'm not letting you walk away! I won't loose you, not again!"

Estrella shook her head and the first tear fell down her face. "I'm going to go and stay with my parents; I'll be safe. Oliver, I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you. If you were in my shoes, you'd do the same thing. Please, trust me." Their eyes met and she finally saw a glimmer of understanding in his eyes.

Reaching into his pockets, Oliver produced his car keys and money and placed them into her hands, closing them in with his hands. "Here, take all of this. If I can't be with you…it's the least I can do." He raised his hand to her face, but pulled away. "Call me when you're somewhere safe, ok?"

"I will." Estrella nodded, in a wavering voice. As his hesitant hand went to her face and then down again, she whispered, looking him in the eye, "I love you, Oliver. I love you."

He slowly cupped her face with his hands and they kissed, slowly, closing their eyes. After their kiss finished, they rested their heads against the others for a while, listening to the breathing of the other. Looking into her eyes, Oliver whispered, "I love you, too, Estrella." Their faces parted. She wiped her eyes, picked up her bags and walked to the door. Once at the door, she paused and could not help herself looking back. Their eyes met and, this time, there was no need to vocalise their love for the other; it was evident in their actions and their eyes. She turned and walked away, with the feeling that that was going to be the last time she would ever see Oliver Queen.

In the early hours of the morning, in a small town outside of Smallville, a bomb in a car erupted and the person inside died instantly. The victim was identified as Estrella Lopez-Swann.


	10. Chapter 10: It's never really overp 1

**I do not own Smallville- or the Kelly Clarkson song. Enjoy and please review. :)**

Chapter 10: It's never really over, no-part 1

The next morning, unaware of what had happened to Estrella, Oliver walked into his living room and saw that Clark was sitting on the sofa, watching the TV as if there were something captivating on it. His body language gave Oliver the impression that he was very stressed, so Oliver crossed the room, poured himself a drink and asked, "Clark, what's up?"

Clark turned around and looked shocked, as if he had not realised that his friend had been there. "Oliver," when he spoke it was in a strange tone, "you're up. I was wondering when I'd see you."

Sitting down next to his friend, Oliver observed his friend's body language and facial expressions and worked out that there was something which was bothering him. "Clark, what's wrong?" His friend had a pained expression on his face, before whispering, "Oliver, I-I don't know how to tell you this. It's Estrella." Before he could say anymore, he turned up the volume on the TV as the news reporters were discussing the bomb,

One of the police officers said. "We aren't sure if it was a bomb or if it was some sort of mechanical issue which caused the explosion, but we can confirm that the victim was Estrella Lopez-Swann, daughter of Dr. Swann and Alba Lopez; both of her parents have positively ID her body. Our prayers are with her family and we are going to discover the source of this and, if it were a bomb, find the person responsible and bring them to justice, for the sake of her family and loved ones."

Oliver froze and he felt his mouth and throat turn dry. Without looking at Clark, he stood up and walked back to his bedroom, closing the door behind him, shutting himself away. In there, he sat on his bed and closed his eyes. How Estrella be dead? How could the woman whom he loved with all of his heart be dead and how did she die?

Clark sat in the living room, wishing that there was something that he could do to comfort his friend. He knew that Oliver had had feelings for Estrella, but he did not know that depth of those feelings, that Oliver had been in love with Estrella, as she had been with him.

The door opened and Chloe and Lois walked in. "Have you told him?" Chloe asked, as she sat down next to her friend. Clark only nodded and ran his hands through his hair, as he did not know what to do.

An hour later, the three of them heard talking coming from Oliver's bedroom and it sounded as if he were on the phone to someone. He emerged from his bedroom, with slightly puffy eyes, with his phone in his hands. Sitting down next to Clark, he informed his friends, "That was the police; they think that it was murder and they asked me if I knew of anyone having the motive to murder her, and I said no." He bit lip and asked, "Chloe, if I give you the codes, can you hack into the CCTV footage at the Lopez-Swann building in Metropolis?"

Chloe hesitated. "Oliver, I'm sure that the police are going to be doing that." Clark threw her a look, telling her to do as Oliver asked her, so she stood up and walked over to the table, where Estrella's laptop was sitting. She bit her lip and whispered, "Oliver, I'm so sorry. I know what she meant to you."

There was a silence, then Oliver remarked, "I came home last night and she told me that she needed to leave Metropolis, to protect me and she told me that she loved him…and I told her that I loved her. She knew that she was in trouble and that she was in danger, but I don't know who."

"Do you think that it could have been the same person or people who kidnaped her?" Lois asked. Oliver nodded and she said, "I'm going to go to the Daily Planet; see what I can find, Chlo, can I borrow you pass?"

Before Chloe could tear her eyes away from the computer, Clark opened his wallet and handed Lois his pass. As he passed it to her, their hands touched and Clark felt as if he were being electrocuted. His eyes met Lois's and he smiled. He smiled in a way that he had never smiled at her before. Lois broke eye contact and walked away, wondering if she had imagined that exchange, but, by the look on Clark's face, she could tell that she had not.

As the door closed, Clark turned his attention back to Oliver and saw Oliver looking at him in a rather humours way. He gave his friend a questioning look, to which Oliver just raised his eyebrows, then turned his attention back to Chloe, and hoped that she would work out who was responsible for ending Estrella's life.

Lionel Luthor entered his son's flat and looked around, wondering where he was. To his horror, he saw Lex locked in some sort of contact with Victoria Hardwick and the sofa. Lionel slammed the door in order to get them to stop; they did and looked around. Victoria looked embarrassed, but Lex looked at his father, in a smug way.

Unable to make eye contact with his son after seeing him in that position, Lionel asked, looking down at the floor, "Lex, may I have a word? In private?" he added, when he saw that the young woman had not moved from the sofa.

Victoria stood up and, as she passed, she whispered, "I'll send my father your regards, Mr. Luthor." The door closed and Lionel looked up at his son. Before the older man could say anything, Lex remarked, in a dry tone, "I learnt from the best, Dad; it's in my blood." He stood up.

Lionel chuckled and asked, "Have you completely lost your mind? You divorced Miss. Atkins and now you're dating that girl? Are you mad?"

"I thought that you'd approve, seeing as her father's Sir. Harry."

"That's the point, Lex," retorted Lionel, as he walked over to his son, "you're dating a woman whose father is one of my greatest compotators, like if you were dating the Lopez-Swann girl. When it concerns my company, it becomes my business and that involves the women you have in your life. Besides, you've only just divorced, son; it wouldn't a good idea if the press were to find out that you're dating someone else already, so soon after a divorce."

Glaring at his father, Lex snap, "No, you'd prefer it if I cheated on my wife, with my son's nanny!"

Lionel shook his head and inquired, "Are you still angry with me for that? Lex, you were a child, how can you still be angry with me?"

"Because I was saw how it affected Mum!" Lex snapped, still glaring at his father. He inhaled a deep breath, then asked, "Have you heard about what happened to Estrella, Dr. Swann's daughter? Her car was blown up outside Smallville." Looking his father in the eye, he asked, "You wouldn't have anything to do with her murder, would you?"

Shaking his head, his father replied, "What kind of monster do you think I am? I would never take her life, she was a nice girl."

"The kind of monster who would have the motive and the means to do so, especially seen as you threatened to murder her boyfriend-I saw the footage from her office last night."

There was a silence, then Lionel stated, "I didn't kill her."

Lex smiled and replied, "Of course you didn't. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business to get back to. I'm sure you do, too." As soon as his father was out of the flat, he picked up his mobile phone and dialled Clark's number. "Clark, I know who did it. Meat me outside the Talon in ten minutes." With that, he hung up and sighed; he wanted revenge for the death of someone who had been a friend of his.

Clark put down the phone, confused. "Clark, what's wrong?" Oliver asked, noticing his friend's distress. Chloe had still not been able to hack in Estrella's computer and she had taken it to Lois at the Daily Planet.

Biting his lip, Clark replied, "I-I have to go and meet Lex. Stay here until I get back, ok?" He did not want Oliver to go with him, as he wanted to know if Lex had proof about his accusation.

As soon as Clark was gone, Oliver turned on the radio, but regretted it, as the song which was playing had been a song which Estrella had loved. The song was "All of me" and he could hear Estrella sweat, beautiful voice singing it. That made him think about other songs which he associated with her: the song "A thousand years" in Spanish, the song "Dancing" and "Si voy a perderte." He fought back the tears which he could feel welling up in his eyes; he had not cried this way since his parents had died and now Estrella, the woman he loved, was gone as well. Dead.

"Any luck?" Lois asked, she carried coffees back into the bullpen for herself and Chloe. Chloe sighed. "I can get into it, it's just going to take time. Maybe we should call Kara."

Sitting down, Lois replied, "No good. She's in Smallville, with the boys. Give it to me." She took Estrella's laptop from her cousin and started typing. When she saw her cousin looking at her, she asked, "What? Why are you looking at me in that way?"

Chloe smiled and answered, "You've just…really thrown yourself into this. You should think about coming to work here. I'm serious, Lois, you'd fit right me here."

"That would involve working with you and Clark, which is something I don't want to do, no offense, cuz." Lois muttered, as she passed the laptop back to Chloe.

After spending a while on trying to crack Estrella's laptop, using another technique, Chloe inquired, "So, how are things between you and A.C?"

Shrugging, Lois sighed. "I still like him-maybe I still love him-, but I ended the relationship for a reason and, going back to him, wouldn't make any sense; it didn't work out the first time, so why would it work out the second time around?" She paused, then whispered, "I can't believe that this happened to Estrella. I'll be honest, I didn't like the women, she was far too wimpy, but no-one deserves this. She and Oliver really liked each other, didn't they?"

"Yeah, they did." Chloe suddenly stopped talking. "I've done it and I've just found this CCTV footage. It's from last night and Lionel was there, at Estrella's office. Now, I'm not one to cast judgements, but, by the look on her face, I'm guessing that this wasn't a nice gesture of welcome. Let me turn the volume up and put it back to the beginning." They did so and watched it from the moment Lionel entered Estrella's office from when Estrella left the office, hearing the entire conversation. "We need to call the police." Lois nodded and grabbed the nearest telephone.

Clark walked to the Talon was Lex had asked him to and walked over to his friend. In a quiet voice, he asked, "Who do you think did it, Lex?"

Lex shook his head. "I don't think-I know." Lex glanced around, before whispered, "It was my father and I proof. There's video footage of him going to see Estrella and threatening to kill Oliver, if she didn't leave Metropolis."

"Why did he do that?"

"No idea, but it's all the proof we need to convict him of Estrella's murder."

"We have to tell Oliver. He's at home." Clark murmured. He's walking around like a broken person, I'm worried about him-he and Estrella really cared about each other."

Just as the two friends were about to leave the café, a journalist approached Lex and asked him how he felt about his father's arrest. Lex walked away and, in a soft voice asked, "How did the police find out?"

"Chloe and Lois must have found it." Clark replied and the two of them ran back to Oliver's flat.

Lionel Luthor was imprisoned and convicted of murder. Estrella's parents organised their daughter's funeral and she was laid to rest in Metropolis Graveyard. Since Estrella's death, Oliver had not really spoken to any of his friends, not even Clark and his friends worked out that his connection with Estrella had been deeper than they had initially thought: he had loved her and she had loved him.

On the evening of her funeral, Chloe was out with Kara and Lois was reading the newspaper. There was a part of her which was tempted to and work at the Daily Planet, but there was another part which was really enjoying the job she was doing at Queen Industries and that offered her security, whereas a job as a journalist would not always be guaranteed.

As she became lost in her thoughts, there was knock on the door. It was Clark and he was crying a bottle of champagne. "Do you want a glass?" Lois nodded, smiling.

An hour later, the pair of them were very drunk, laughing and talking. "Do you think that I should go for a job at the Daily Planet?"

"Yeah-I think it's a great idea." Clark replied. His eyes met Lois's and there was a silence, then Lois leaned forward and kissed him and he kissed her back, closing his eyes. Just as Clark was becoming comfortable with this kiss, Lois backed away and shook her head. "I can't do this; I have to go, Clark. You should leave."

Clark stood up and left. Lois curled up on the sofa and smiled to herself; kissing Clark had been everything she had ever imagined and it made her feel happy inside. On the other side of the door, Clark rested his head on the door and closed his eyes, smiling, with happiness. He found that he had enjoyed kissing Lois.

In Costa Rica, meanwhile, a young woman entered a small flat, after retrieving a key. As soon as she was inside, the young woman pulled off the wig and allowed her dark, long hair to fall into its natural place on her shoulders. Slowly, she opened the curtains and looked up at the moon, hoping that her loved one could feel her love. Back in Metropolis, Oliver was looking at the moan from his bedroom, as he felt as if he brought him closer to Estrella. Little did he know that, far away, she was looking at the moan, hoping that he knew how much she loved him.

Estrella retrieved her mobile phone and dialled her confidant's number, the person who had helped her pull-off her fake death. "Chloe? It's me. I'm at my destination. Thank you for helping me. Can you-can you look after Oliver? I'm sorry that I have to put him through this, but it's the only way I can protect him. One day, I'll explain. Thanks, Marie." She was living under her maternal grandmother's name, as it was safer and also wearing a wig.

Fighting back tears, Estrella raised her eyes back to the moan. Doing this, pretending that she had been murdered, broke her heart, as all she wanted to do was to be with Oliver, but she also knew that this was the best way to protect him, to let him think that she was gone. She loved him more than anything and she did not want to risk anything happening to him, ever.

Kelly Clarkson (Sober)- _'Been a long road since those hands I left in my tears but I know it's never really over. No…three months and I've been living here without you now. It's never really over, no._'


	11. Chapter 11: It's never really over, p 2

**I do not own Smallville. Enjoy and, please review :)**

Chapter 11: It's never really over, no-part 2.

The following morning, Lois woke up in her bed, with a splitting headache. After pulling on her dressing gown, she went into the main flat, where she found her cousin eating breakfast, drinking a cup of coffee.

Looking up at her cousin, Chloe chuckled and asked, "Rough night?"

Lois sat down at the table and replied, "I guess…All I remember is being kissed," Chloe looked at her curiously and she explained, "This is going to sound ridiculous, but it was with someone last night. I can't remember who, but we kissed and it was amazing and that's all I remember. I know that it wasn't AC, because I've kissed him before." She smiled. "I have a mystery crush, Chlo."

Much to Lois's surprise, her cousin said very little on the matter, but that was because Chloe had an idea of whom Lois had kissed last night and it confused her, but it did make her think that maybe Lois and Clark did stand a chance together.

Kara knocked on the door of Lex's flat and waited for him to answer. He did not answer, but Victoria did. Kara felt a surge of anger, but she pushed it away and asked, in a stern voice, "Is Lex in? He told me that he needs to speak to me."

The other woman looked her up and down, then answered, "He's in the bath and I was just going out to the market. See you later." She pulled her coat over her shoulders and walked out, making herself as tall as she could. Kara rolled her eyes at the pretentious actions of this woman and walked into the flat. Closing the door, she looked around and was shocked to see Victoria's possessions in Lex's flat, when they had not been together for that long. Had she already moved in and, if so, was it not a bit soon?

Lex walked into the room and smiled. "Kara, thanks for coming. Would you like something to drink, eat?

Kara smiled back. "I'm fine, thanks, Lex. Why did you call me here, is everything ok?"

Her friend sat down on one of the many sofas in his flat and replied, "I would like you to do something for me: could you run a background check on Victoria?"

"I thought she was a childhood friend and, besides, you'd have the resources to do that." Kara sat down next to him, fiddling with the cuffs of her jumper.

Letting out a hollow chuckle, Lex shook his head. "The head of my company-my father- was recently convicted of murder-it's a surprise that few people want to give me access to people's records." His tone turned serious and he whispered, "I still can't believe that my father murdered Estrella. I knew that he didn't get on with her father, or with Oliver's father, when he was alive, but I never thought that he'd go that far. Have you seen Oliver?"

Kara shook her head. "No, not really. Not since the funeral. He's taking it really hard. He really cared about Estrella."

"Well, he's already lost so many people in his life, I guess this won't help. People he loves tend to end up dead," Lex bit his lip, before continuing, "Don't tell him that I told you this, but he lost both his brother and sister when he was a kid, and then his parents. I despise the man, but the one thing I can relate to is losing a sibling. Do you remember your biological parents?"

"Yeah, I was five when they did. My mother, Lara, was the kindness person I've ever known. I look like her, with my blue eyes and blonde hair and Kal-I mean, Clark- looks like our father." She paused, then hesitated, "I was devastated when his name was changed to Clark, but when I told him what his name was, they wouldn't listen. He's still Kal to me and always will be." She smiled, then stood up, "I'd better be going."

"You don't have to go."

Kara closed her eyes, then turned back to her friend and smiled. "I don't think your girlfriend would approve of my being here, besides, I have work to do. See you later." She walked away and closed the door behind her; she had promised herself that she would not open up to Lex in that way, as she knew that it would not lead to anything but heartbreak and pain.

Clark awoke with a banging headache, but he was still smiling with the memory of kissing Lois. He threw on some clothes and made his way into the kitchen.

As soon as he was sitting at the table, Oliver placed a glass in front of him and sat opposite him, telling his friend, "Drink it; it's good for you."

Looking down at the drink which looked like disgusting mush, Clark asked, "Are you sure?"

"One thing about being a recovering alcoholic is that I know what helps with hangovers." Oliver replied, but smiling, but the smile did not reach his eyes and Clark inwardly sighed; Oliver was still battling his daemons, even more so now that he had lost Estrella. "So, where were you last night?"

After finding something for his breakfast, Clark replied, "I was with Lois, actually. We were both drunk and we-er-we kissed…and I enjoyed it."

Oliver stared at him and asked, "You and Lois kissed? How on Earth did that happen?"

"We were talking and she was saying how she wanted to quit her job and then we kissed and it was amazing." The newspaper caught his eye and he observed, "Are Lionel Luthor's lawyers still fighting his conviction?"

There was a silence and Oliver looked down at the table, before replying, in a very different tone to the one he had been speaking in before, "Yeah. Yeah, they're trying to. I swear, if they push it any further, I'll get my team of lawyers. There's no way I'm going to let that murdering scumbag walk free."

Clark saw the look of both determination and sadness in his friend's eyes and asked, in a gentle voice, "You really loved her, didn't you?" It was not really a question, as he knew what the answer was.

Oliver just nodded and whispered, "Yeah, I really did. And now she's gone." There was a harsh tone to his voice and he stood up and walked away. Clark bit his lip and sighed; he cared about Oliver, he and Chloe were his best friends and he cared about him and hated to see him suffer.

After eating, dressing and showering, Clark made his way to Lex's flat. Upon discovering that he was not there, he made his way to the LuthorCorp Plaza, which was the LuthorCorp base in Metropolis, just as Queen Tower was Queen Industries' Metropolis base, the difference was that Oliver lived in Metropolis Tower, whereas Lex lived in his own flat.

He walked into the main office, which was usually occupied by Lionel, but since his arrest, it was being shared by Lex and his mother. Clark just hoped that Lex was there, although he thought that Lillian Luthor would help him if he asked.

He knocked and was grateful that it was Lex's voice which invited him in. "Clark, is everything alright?" his friend asked, upon seeing Clark's distress.

Sitting down opposite Lex's desk, Clark answered, "Your father's lawyers are trying to get him off from murdering Estrella. They can't do that, Lex."

"Clark, they don't have a chance; we have air-tight proof."

"But these are some of the best lawyers in the world. If they get him off…" he paused, then asked, "Do you think they know something we don't?"

Lex shook his head. "No. I've dealt with these people my entire life; they'll do anything to get their money."

"I disagree. They could have something. They could know something, something we don't-something Oliver doesn't know. Do you think I'm being paranoid?"

Nodding, Lex smiled. "I do. I think you're grieving for the loss of your friend and, believe me, I am too, Clark. Estrella's was one of the few people whom I trusted, even though she was the most annoying person on the planet, even when we were kids." He smiled fondly. "I remember, once, she was staying with us for the night and she refused to go to bed, so she dressed up and pretended to be a maid and it wasn't until her parents came that she revealed herself. She was a great actress. She was a good friend and a great ally, in the world of business."

Biting his lip, Clark inquired, "Did you have feelings for her, Lex?"

Lex smiled and murmured, "I think when someone's been in your life since your early childhood, there's a connection between them and that's what was there between she and I. There was a different kind of bond between Stella and Oliver; they were best friends when we were kids and my best friend was Jason. How life changes, isn't it strange? I'm glad that I have your friendship, Clark. I hope I'll never have to loose you too."

Chucking, Clark laughed, "Sorry, mate; you're stuck with me, buddy."

Later that day, Clark walked to Chloe and Lois's, as he wanted to talk to Chloe about a story the two of them were working on. As he walked in, Chloe closed her laptop and Lois walked into the room, coming from her bedroom. Clark felt a sort of glow when he saw her and when he saw Chloe looking at and smiling, he worked out that she knew that he and Lois had kissed. "Tell Clark about last night, Lois." Her cousin urged, as she passed both Lois and Clark cups of coffee and Clark was confused; why would Lois tell him about something which involved him?

Lois giggled and sat down on the sofa. "Well, Smallville, I was very drunk last night, I mean you were with me for a while and then you left. Last night, I had the best kiss of my life. This guy-he was-he was holding me in his arms and kissing me, as if there were no tomorrow. I mean, when AC and I were together, he was a good kisser, but whoever this guy was, he could teach my ex-fiancée a thing or two about kissing." Her eyes met with Clark's and she smiled and left the room.

Shocking and not sure what to think, in a very low voice, Clark turned to Chloe and asked, "She doesn't remember that it was me?"

"No. Why do you want her to remember?" Chloe inquired, watching her best friend closely.

Clark shook his head frantically and replied, "No of course not. It's Lois-I'd never see her in that way." As he said that, he knew that he had not convinced himself and he could tell that he had not convinced Chloe, as she knew him very well and knew that, very often, what he did not say, was what was really bothering him.

Lois made her way to see Oliver. She entered his office. He smiled and asked, "Have you come to resign?"

Lois froze and asked, "Are you telepathic?"

Smiling to himself, Oliver answered, "A little birdie told me." He laughed, then asked, "Do you want to tell me why this sudden change of heart?"

Sitting down opposite him, Lois cleared her throat. "First of all, I just wanted to thank you for the amazing opportunity this job has given me. I really appetite all you've done for me. I-I think that my calling is somewhere else and I-I realised that I applied for this job for the wrong reason and I want to be my own woman now. I want to have control of my life."

"And you think you'll be able to do that unemployed?" Oliver asked, with a hint of humour in his voice.

Laughing slightly, she shook her head and replied, "I've already applied for a job." She paused, then added, "Thank you again, for the job…and, for what its worth, you and Estrella were great together." As she turned to the door, she asked, "One more thing: do you know anyone named Marie in Costa Rice?"

Oliver frowned. "No. Why?"

Lois shrugged. "It's just Chloe was talking to her this morning and it was in a very secretive way. Your name was mentioned more than once and when Clark came in, she closed down her laptop. Are you sure you don't know someone named Marie, who speaks Spanish?"

Oliver pulled himself out of his thoughts of Estrella, as he knew that that was who this "Marie" was. He forced a smile. "No, I don't, but I'll let you know if I do." As soon as Lois was gone, he grabbed his coat and car keys and made his way to Chloe and Lois's flat.

Using his key to get in, Oliver walked into Chloe and Lois's home and was relieved to see not only were neither of them in, but that Chloe's laptop was sitting on the kitchen table. He sat down, opened her laptop and tried to hack into it, using as many permutations as he could think of.

"You know I have about 100 firewalls on there." Oliver jumped up as he heard Chloe's voice and she was looked at him with anger in her eyes. "What gives you the right to, first of all, break into my home, and then to try and hack into my personal property?"

Sighing, her friend answered, "Ok, first of all, I had a key, so don't call the police on me yet." He joked, but she was in no mood for jokes. "And, second, you know something about Estrella, something you're not telling me."

Looking down at the floor, Chloe smiled sadly. "Oliver, Estrella's dead. She's gone and you need to accept that."

Oliver shook his head. "If she's dead, why have you been talking to her? Lois said you had and that you were talking about me."

Chloe shrugged. "I don't know what to say. She's dead, Oliver. She isn't in Costa Rica."

"I didn't say Costa Rica." Oliver pointed out, in a quiet voice. He walked closer to her and asked, "What's going on, Chloe? Please, I love her. Just tell me what's going on?"

Their eyes met, then reluctantly, Chloe admitted, "She faked her dead, the explosion, everything. She did that and then slipped away to Costa Rica. She's arrived there yesterday. That's all I know, but Oliver, she doesn't want you to follow her there. She doesn't want you find her, so please don't go looking for her."

Once home, Oliver thought about what he was going to do; on the one hand, he wanted to find Estrella, because he loved her, but if she did not want him to find her, why should he go against her wishes? Why had she done it and would he be putting her in danger if he went to see her? Did she no longer feel the same way about him? Grabbing a hoodie, he put it on and across his face and formulated a plan, before contacting his pilot.

In Costa Rica, Oliver, wearing a hoodie so that he would not be recognised, worked out where "Marie" lived and he walked into her flat. Upon opening the door, he was faced with Estrella, but with a blonde wig and with a gun in her hands. "What do you want?" she asked, in a very harsh voice.

Slowly, Oliver lowered his hood in order to show her who he was. He saw her facial expression change, but she composed herself and stated, in a stale voice, "I know who you are."

"Of course you do, Estrella, you're my girlfriend." Oliver responded, in a gentle voice.

"You must have me mistaken with someone else, Mr. Queen." As she said that, Oliver heard her voice break and she sounded as if she were about to cry. She turned around and whispered, "I'm not the person you seek, Mr. Queen. The person you seek is dead. Estrella, is that what her name was?"

Oliver sighed with frustration. "Estrella, I know that it's you. You're Estrella Lopez-Swann, you're pretending that you're dead and you've adopted your grandmother's name. Ella," he used his childhood name for her, "your parents, your brother, they're grieving for you, they need you. I need you, Estrella. I love you, more than I've ever loved anyone." There was a dead silence, then Oliver whispered, "Well, Marie, if you ever find Estrella again, tell her that I love her and that I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else." With that, he raised his hood again. He stopped at the door and silently prayed that this would not be the last time he would ever see Estrella.

As soon as the door was closed, Estrella locked the door, pulled off the wig, collapsed on the floor and cried. Her sobbing racked her entire body and she felt as if this pain would never end. She hated herself for what she was doing to Oliver, for the person she was pretending to be for framing Lionel Luthor for murder, but she knew that she had to do it in order to protect the person whom she loved more than anything, even more than her parents and brother.

A weak passed and Lois found a job at the Daily Planet, as a copy-girl, but she amazed that she had been employed; she guessed that Chloe's working there had helped her case.

That evening, when Oliver returned from a meeting with a Queen Industries shareholder, he checked his mobile phone and saw a text from Chloe, saying: 'I can keep Clark here for an hour-that's as long as I can give you. I'm sorry I can't give you any longer.' Not knowing what she was talking about, Oliver did not reply and changed out of his suit into more casual clothes.

As he sat down to watch a Robin Hood film, there was a knock on the door. He opened it and was surprised with the eyes that met his; it was Estrella, in her disguise.

She stepped inside, closed the door and pulled off her wig and told him, "I'm going to send an anonymous later to the police, which will overturn Lionel's conviction; no matter how wrong that man is, he does not deserve to be imprisoned for something he didn't do. You are expecting me, aren't you?" she sounded almost frightened.

Oliver pursed his lip. "I don't know what to expect from you-one minute, you told me that you loved me, then you faked your own death, then you told me that you never wanted to see me again. How do I know what to believe?"

"Believe that I love you, more than I've ever loved anyone in my life, even more than my family! Oliver, anything I've ever done, right or wrong, I've done for you. I faked my own death, because Lionel threatened to kill you if I didn't leave your life. I had to do it to protect you and I know you'll be safe now."

"And you think that sacrificing your own life will do that?" Oliver asked, in a harsh voice. He sighed, then asked, "Why are you here now, Estrella?"

Slipping off her coat, Estrella replied, "I've come to say goodbye. After tonight, I'm going to go underground and, please, don't look for me when I do that." Their eyes met and she whispered, "I love you, Oliver. I always have and I always will." She stepped closer to him, then hesitated, but he closed the gap between them, cupped her face with his hands and kissed her passionately.

There were now smiles on their faces, as their lips parted, but their heads rested on the others, as if they were soaking strength from the other. Estrella bit her lip, then murmured, "Oliver, I want to give you something no-one else is ever going to get," their eyes met and Oliver understood what she was talking about, "I'm here with the person I love and-and I want to remember this moment for the rest of my life. Have you ever done this before?"

"With my ex-girlfriend, but the love I had for her is different to the love I have you," Oliver replied, in a whisper, stroking her check, "I can't imagine my life without you. Are you sure that you want to do this, because you know that I love you no matter what?"

Taking hold of his hand on her check, Estrella looked into his eyes and replied, "I've never been surer about anything in my life. I love you." She repeated, smiling with both love and job. Slowly, Oliver kissed her again and she kissed him back, in the same manner, taking in every moment of the precious time they had left together.

Smiling nervously, Oliver picked her up and she put her arms around his neck. With their faces level, they kissed again, closing their eyes, before Oliver carried Estrella into his bedroom and lit the fire.

Meanwhile, at Chloe and Lois's flat, whilst Lois was in her bedroom, Clark asked, once again, "How can she not remember that it was me whom she kissed?"

Rolling her eyes, Chloe sighed. "Clark, if you're so bothered about this, how about to tell her that it was you? What have you got to loose?" Clark did not reply, but when Lois walked out of her bedroom, Chloe saw his eyes fall to her cousin and he smiled, in the way he had smiled at Lana and Lois, in the past.

Chloe checked her phone and opened a message from Oliver, which simply read: 'Thank-you, Sidekick. '. Later she also received one from 'Marie' thanking her and saying that she had had the best night of her life.

Kelly Clarkson (Sober)- _'Been a long road since those hands I left in my tears but I know it's never really over. No…three months and I've been living here without you now. It's never really over, no._'


	12. Chapter 12: Influence of love

**Estrella will be back, at some point:). Please enjoy and review; let me know what you think of the characters and the relationships, especially Lois and Clark. :)**

Chapter 12: Influence of love.

The following morning, Estrella was gone, as Oliver knew she would be, but he was glad that she had come back to see him before leaving his life forever. Meanwhile, Lois was still fantasising about who her mystery kiss had been and Clark was agonising over whether to tell her that it was him or not-Chloe thought that he should tell Lois, but Clark did not want to risk it and he convinced himself that he did not have feelings for Lois.

A couple of weeks later, Lionel was released from prison, based on an anonymous source. Oliver knew that it had been Estrella and Chloe guessed as much.

One Saturday morning, when the group of friends were sitting together in Chloe and Lois's flat, Lex approached Kara when she was alone and asked, "Have you done at background check on Victoria?"

"Yeah, I have and she's clean; no criminal record of any kind." Kara paused, then asked, "Are you still seeing her?"

Lex smiled and replied, "Yeah, we are and I think that it may be becoming serious. I know that I told myself that I wouldn't get involved with anyone, especially since what happened to Desiree, but Victoria and I really connect. I think that she may be the one." He smiled and turned away. Kara closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath.

"You ok?" She turned around and saw Oliver watching her with concerned eyes.

Nodding, Kara replied, "Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just-I can't believe that Lex has moved on so quickly, after what happened." She knew that Oliver would not believe her, but she also knew that he would not question her on it. He bit his lip and remarked, "Kara, you can do far better." He smiled. "You really can do so much better."

"Do you tell Lois that when she's pining over Clark?" Kara hissed, very angry that Oliver was insulting Lex, her friend and the person whom she liked. "I really like him. You can't control who you fall for."

Oliver sighed. "I know, but you have to understand that Lex will never change who he is-he'll never be the kind of man who settles down in a country house and has 2.5 kids. If you think that's who he is, then you obviously don't know him."

Kara glared at him and spat, "You were the one who bullied him when you were at boarding school, so you have no room to talk!" With that, Kara walked away, leaving Oliver standing in shock, as Kara had never spoken to him in that manner before.

Matthew and Lewis ran over to Lois, who was sitting reading, and Matthew asked, "Lois, will you tell us about how you were trained to fight?" She had mentioned to the boys earlier that her dad was a general and that she had been trained to fight by some of the greatest fighters in the world and now the two boys looked at her with awe in their eyes. They jumped up to sit beside her, on either side of her, so that they could both hear her and hear what she was saying.

As Lois was telling Matthew and Lewis the story about how she had been trained to swim by a member of the Navy, she saw Clark on the other side of the room. He was feeding Seth and holding him in his arms, but he was also watching Lois with his other sons and smiling. Their eyes met and Lois smiled back, but when Lois returned her attention back to the boys, she could still feel Clark's blue eyes on her and she began to wonder if he was watching his sons or if he was watching her and, if so, why was that?

There was a knock on the door and Oliver, who was closest to the door, opened it and he recognised the woman instantly. The woman had red hair and pale skin. It was Pamela Luthor, formerly known as Pamela Mercer, Lex's former nanny and mother of his half-sister. Oliver froze, as he could feel her eyes looking him up and down. Smiling, Pamela observed, "Why, you do look like your mother."

Without saying a word, Oliver stepped aside and left her into the flat, not knowing how Lex would react.

Lex turned around and saw Pamela. He walked over to her, hugged her, then took her by the hand and led her out of Chloe and Lois's flat. Confused, Lois asked, "Who's that? Oliver, do you know?"

Sighing, Oliver replied, "Yeah, it's Lex's stepmother, Pamela." He knew that both of his parents had not liked her, so that made him a little weary of her and he wondered if his parents had known about her affair with Lionel.

**%%%%**

Once Lex and Pamela were alone in Lex's flat, Lex inquired, "Pam, what are you doing here?"

"I came to see you," Pamela paused, detecting the tone of his voice and asked, "Alex, why are you angry with me?"

Lex shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's because you had an affair and a baby with my father, and you were one of my mother's closest friends. I-I know that it was over a decade ago, but it still makes me angry, because I saw how hurt my mum was by it and you put Tess up for adoption when she was 10. I didn't even know that I had a sister until I was 20! How could you and my father do such a thing?" He inhaled a deep breath in order to calm himself down and asked, in a gentle voice, "Why are you here, Pam?"

There was a silence, then his stepmum sat down. Tears formed in her eyes. "I love you like my own son, Alexander. You know that I do. I love you as much as I love Tess."

"Well, that isn't saying much considering you abandoned her when she was 10!"

A tear fell from Pamela's check and she whispered, "Alexander, I have an illness which is incurable. I only have a couple of months left. Your father knows and so does your mother. I haven't told Tess yet, but I will. Alexander, I'm so sorry. I just wanted you to know that I love, because I'll never see you again." She stood up and walked away, but Lex called her back. He walked over to her and wrapped her arms around her and she wept into his shoulders.

From the outside window, Oliver watched and felt a pang in his stomach, as he had no-one left from his childhood who loved him; his brother and sister and their parents were all dead, gone, and he would never see Estrella again.

_8 years earlier-Metropolis University, Metropolis…_

Clark jumped off the bus and ran to Metropolis University; he and Lana had both overslept and his parents had not woken them up, so he was running late and it was his first weak at university. He had decided to study History, with Agriculture on the side, as they were subjects which he had always enjoyed.

He opened the door and entered the lecture room. The lecturer turned around and remarked, in a sarcastic tone, "Ah, Mr Kent, you decided to join us, finally." He smiled. "Go and sit with Mr. Queen at the back."

Clark nodded and walked over to the back of the room, looking down at his shoes, so as not to make eye contact with anyone, as he was really embarrassed. He sat down next to Oliver, without looking at him, once again, because of embarrassment.

As a class they were told to a discussion, Clark finally made eye contact with Oliver and muttered, "So, we have to talk to each other."

"Yeah, we do." Oliver smiled, then asked, "So, what do you think of Abraham Lincoln?"

The two young men talked about that topic of history for about half an hour. At the end of the session, Oliver walked out and Clark, without knowing what he was doing so, followed him. They had lunch together and Clark remarked, "I'm not always late-I'm usually late, but I overslept and my dad caught me in bed with my girlfriend and the word 'embarrassed' doesn't even cover that feeling. It's just that situation you never want your dad to find you in, you know. Do you have a girlfriend?"

Oliver looked up from his hands, which was where his eyes had become fixed whilst Clark had been talking about his dad. "Yeah, I have. We've been together for a year now. How long have you and your girlfriend been together?"

"Since we were 16," Clark replied, smiling, thinking of Lana. "I love her, more than I can express." He hesitated, then remarked, "There was another girl, she was one of my best friends and when Lana and I left school, I remember wondering, if Lana and I hadn't been together, would things have been different between us? Would I be dating her now, or Lana?" Pulling himself out of his own thoughts, he asked, "So, what do you want to do when you're older?"

There was a silence, then Oliver answered, "I'm going to take over the family business." He did not know if Clark knew who he was or if his parents were dead, but he did not want to tell him, so he quickly asked what he wanted to do when he was older. Clark replied that he wanted to do when he was older. He replied that he wanted to be a farmer, like his dad, but before he could say anymore, his mobile phone went off. It was Lana, so he smiled at Oliver, stood up and walked away. Oliver bit his lip, deeply saddened by the fact that Clark did not seem to appreciate what he had in life. He had what Oliver had always wanted, what he had years before-a brother, a sister, parents. A family.

_Present day…_

In a daze, Lex walked to Oliver's flat and was glad to find Clark there, playing with his sons. Noticing that there was something wrong, Clark told Matthew, Lewis and Seth to go and play in their bedrooms and asked, "Lex, what's wrong?"

Lex bit his lip, then answered, "Pam, she-er-she's dying, Clark. She only has a couple of months to live and she's going to be treated her, by some of the best doctors in the world."

"Does your sister know?" Clark inquired, sitting down next to his friend.

"Pam's calling her now and she'll be here soon. Gosh, why did this have to happen to her? I mean, I hated her for what she did for my mother, betraying her and me and for what she did to Tess when she was a kid, but-I never thought that something like this would happen to her." Lex paused, then whispered, "She told me what the illness was and I couldn't remember where I'd heard it before and now I remember. One of my classmates at Excelsior, his brother died of it. I just hope that Tess can handle it. She'll be staying with me, considering that Pam's in hospital." There was a silence, then he whispered, "I love her almost as much as I love my own mother. I can't image what I'm going to do when she's gone or how Tess is going to cope, for that matter."

Lex stood up and walked away and Clark went back to looking after his children, wishing that there was something he could do to help his friend. There was a knock on the door. It was Lois and Matthew, who had taken a particular liking to her, ran over to her and demanded her to tell him and brothers stories about the army.

As Clark watched Lois with his sons, he saw how good she was with them, despite her saying that she was no good with children. He had not heard from Lana, since learning that their divorce had been finalised and, therefore, his three sons had lost their mother, but Clark was glad that they had Chloe, Lois and Kara in their lives, as they would serve as a good famine influence, but Clark guessed that Lois was going to be the 'cool aunt', as she was the one who played football with them and wrestled with them. Clark understood that Lana had not been happy with what her life had become, but he wished that she had spoken to him about it before they had decided to move to Metropolis. Clark was really happy in Metropolis, because he was closer to his friends and to Kara, but Lana had obviously not been happy.

As Matthew and Lewis became occupied with another game, Clark sat down next to Lois on the sofa and remarked, "You're very good with the boys."

Lois chuckled. "Yeah right, Smallville." She paused, then continued, "When I'm around kids, I feel as if I can be myself, as if I don't have to pretend. After my mum died, when I was 6, I became a mother to Lucy, and I guess I kind of lost my childhood from then on." Their eyes met, then she pulled away, not happy that she had shared such a thing with him. In order to make herself feel better, she punched him playfully on the arm, stood up and walked away. She kept telling herself that she needed to move on from Clark, that nothing was ever going to happen between the two of them, but there were moments when she forgot about her desire to move on and all that she could think about was him: Clark Kent.

**%%%%**

Later that morning, Lois walked over to her desk at _The Daily Planet_ and found flowers on her desk and a note. She recognised the handwriting as her ex-fiancée's. She turned around and found A.C standing behind her. "Fishboy, you really don't take a hint, do you?"

She walked past him and threw the flowers in the bin, before returning to her desk and sitting down. A.C smiled. "Look, Lois, I don't know what's going on between us. I don't know if you still love me or not, but I know a way we can work it out. Let me take you swimming, teach you how to swim properly, where we first met."

"Thanks, Gills, but I can swim."

"Well, you couldn't when I had to save you in Gotham six years ago. You nearly drowned." AC laughed, then his face turned serious. "Come on, Lois, for old time's sake. We can have a talk and decide where we stand with each other. We can decide if our relationship is worth a second chance or if we're better to stay friends and let the past lie where it belongs. In the past." Their eyes met, then AC broke the gaze and walked away, leaving Lois trying to work out what she wanted. Did she want to be with AC? A part of her did still love him, she knew that, but another part of her wanted to define herself and explore who she was, before committing herself to another person.

**%%%%**

Chloe walked back into her flat, closing the door and resting her head on the door; Lex had just told her about Pamela and he had asked her to look up any possible cures. She knew that it was desperate man's plea to try to save a person whom he loved as a mother, but she had agreed to do it, even though she knew that she would not find anything. It was only as she walked into her flat that she noticed that Oliver was sitting against one of the sofa, fiddling with what appeared to be an arrow head.

Turning the lights up, Chloe walked over to him and slipped down onto the floor next to her friend. "Are you ok?"

"Have you heard about Pam?"

Chloe nodded, but did not understand how Lex's stepmother's illness would have this affect on Oliver. "Yeah. He just told me. It's awful and he obviously cares about her a lot. I can't imagine what he's going through."

Oliver kept his eyes on the arrow head which he was twirling in his hands. He inhaled a deep breath, then asked, in barley a whisper, "Have I ever told you about my brother and sister? Sam, my brother, he was two years older than me. I looked up to him. He was everything I wanted to be. He was jealous when our sister was born." Oliver hesitated, then cleared his throat and looked Chloe in the eye. "Shortly after her birth, Mia, my sister, was kidnapped and my parents eventually gave up, assuming that she was dead. I was four at the time, but I've searched for years and I've never found her. Sam died the same year, when I was four. It all happened so quickly and then six years later, my parents were buried next to him. He died of what Pamela has." A tear fell down his check. "I've only ever talked to Estrella about this. Even Clark doesn't know about Mia and Sam."

"I'm glad you feel you can talk to me, Ollie." Chloe smiled. In order to comfort him, she placed her head on his shoulder and he rested his head on her head, as if they were soaking the strength from each other. "You're a good friend, Oliver." Chloe whispered and Oliver smiled, knowing that she meant it. The two of them had not always been friends, but they were now and they trusted each other.

**%%%%**

The sea that reached the tides of Gotham City was the place where Lois and A.C had first met and that was where A.C had taken Lois, so that the two of them could resolve their relationship and work out where they stood with each other. They were distracted, however, with racing each other and Lois was very annoyed when A.C beat her.

After about two hours of racing each other, the two of them climbed out of the water and sat on the beach, letting their feet soak in the sea. "I forget that you practically grew up in water." Lois laughed.

A.C turned to her and asked, "Was that a compliment from Lois Lane? Well, I can tell that you've been practicing-it was almost as if you were hoping that I would turn up."

They both laughed, but then their eyes met and, much to A.C's surprise, it was Lois who started to move her face closer to his. He moved his face closer, but the sound of his mobile phone made them both jump and he jumped backwards. They laughed, with more embarrassment than anything else, then AC stood up answered his mobile. Lois bit her lip, as she had wanted to kiss AC, but now she was worried that she would not have that chance again.

**%%%%**

The drive back to Metropolis was awkward for both of them, as they both knew what would have happened if they had been interrupted. There was no need for them to have 'the talk' about their relationship, as they both knew that the other wanted to be with them.

Upon returning home, to Lois and Chloe's flat, Lois made herself and AC a coffee. She knew that Chloe was out working at the Daily Planet, so she knew that she and AC would not be interrupted.

She passed him a cup of coffee and their hands touched as she did so. AC knelt down, placed the cup of the table, placed his hand on her face and kissed her. Lois closed her eyes and kissed him back, but then opened her eyes and pulled away. "Wait, fishboy. Just because you're my first love doesn't give you the right to slobber all over me!"

A smile crossed AC's lips and he asked, "I'm your first love? Well, you know what they say about first loves, don't you?"

Before he could say anymore, Lois pulled his face towards her and they kissed again, closing their eyes. It reminded both of them of their first kiss and they were both feeling as nervous now as when they had done that six years before.

"Lois?" They broke apart to see Clark standing there, watching them with a look of horror on his face.

"Hey, Smallville. What are you doing here?" Lois asked, as she wanted Clark to go away, so that she could spend time with A.C.

Clark bit his lips and replied, "I was looking for Chloe. Is she working late? Right, well I'll go then." He walked out, almost as if he were in some sort of daze.

**%%%%**

One of the reasons Chloe enjoyed working late at the Daily Planet was that there was no-one else there, which meant that she would focus on her work and not have to worry about other people, especially her cousin. Her focus was interrupted when she heard someone walk into the room and she stood up, wondering who it was.

The person who walked in was a young man, whom Chloe vaguely recognised. She saw the security tag around his neck and asked, "Do you work here?"

"Yeah, I'm Jimmy Olsen. I'm a photographer. It's nice to meet you." He held out his hand and Chloe shook his head. As she did so, she felt as if she was experiencing a electric shock and their eyes met and she could tell that Jimmy was feeling the same sensation.

There was an awkward silence, then Jimmy cleared his throat. "I guess I'll see you around. Sorry, what's your name?"

Chloe found her voice and replied, "Chloe Sullivan. I'm a journalist here."

Jimmy smiled. "Yeah, I've seen you around. Anyway, I gotta go, so I'll see you around…Chloe." He walked to the door and, as Chloe hoped, he looked back and smiled. When he was gone, Chloe felt a deep sense of job fill her body. There was something about Jimmy which made her really happy. She knew that he was Kara's ex-boyfriend, but she also knew that Kara no longer had feelings for him.

**%%%%**

That night, Lois made her way to Oliver and Clark's, because she wanted to make sure that Clark was alright, as he had acted in a rather strange when he had found her and AC kissing. She found him in the living room, rocking Seth back and forth in his crib. He was looking rather troubled.

"Where's Oliver?"

Clark looked up from his son and replied, "He's out for a business dinner." He was speaking in a very defeated tone, so Lois asked, "Are you ok? Do you want to talk about what's making you so grumpy or is this a guessing game?"

There was a silence, then Clark sighed. "Seeing you and AC together, it reminded me about what poets always say about first loves; that they're there forever, no matter how you try to move on with your life. I wasn't Lana's first love, Jason was. I'm never going to find someone I can love as much as I loved her and I'll never find someone who loved me as much as she did."

Lois smiled and remarked, "Don't be so sure, Smallville. You never know what's around the corner. You never know, the love of your life could be the girl you meet on the street tomorrow… or she could be one of your best friends."

Clark turned to face her and whispered, "You're a good friend, Lois. I don't know where I'd be without you." He smiled and she smiled back, then she sighed inwardly and walked away. At the door, she stopped and looked back at Clark, not sure if she was fully prepared to close to Clark chapter of her life, but she had no choice; he did not feel the same way, besides, she was with AC now and she loved him. She needed to forget about her feelings for Clark; accept that Lois Lane and Clark Kent were never going to be anything more than friends.

**Enter Jimmy Olsen... What do you want to happen between him and Chloe? **

**Thank-you. Enjoy. :)**


	13. Chapter 13: New feelings

**I do not own Smallville. **

**Here's the new chapter:). Enjoy and, please, review; let me know what you think of the story and the relationships:). N.B: Lois and Clark WILL happen. :)**

Chapter 13: New feelings.

Perry White had been Editor and Chief of the _Daily Planet_ for about a year and he was very happy in that position. He had worked as a journalist for over twenty years before securing his position. Two of his favourite journalists were Chloe Sullivan, Clark and Kent and Chloe's cousin, Lois Lane.

The door opened and Perry White looked up to see a young woman, with auburn hair and green eyes standing in front of the desk. She held out her hand to him. "I'm Tess Mercer. You must be Perry White."

Very confused, Perry stood up and shook her hand. "Yes. May I ask you why you're in my office?"

"Yes, I'm the new owner of the Daily Planet. Don't worry, you won't lose any power, I'll just be overseeing everything."

"How-er-how have you done this?"

A smile spread across Tess's face and she replied, "I'm the daughter of Lionel Luthor, so I can pretty much do as I please, so you and your journalists had been impress me and quickly."

There was a knock on the door and a Perry stood there, unsure if he was supposed to allow this person access or if that was Tess's job. When he saw Tess's eyes on him, in an expecting way, he told the person to enter.

Clark entered the office and was instantly stunned by the presence of the woman. She had a certain presence about her and he could not help but notice her beautiful hair and eyes and she was looking him up and down as well. Feeling uncomfortable suddenly, Clark cleared his throat and addressed his boss, "Mr. White, I have a story for you." He handed it to his boss, being careful to avoid eye contact with the young woman.

Perry pursed his lips, in order to prevent himself from laughing, as Clark was obviously very embarrassed. "Thank you, Clark." He threw Clark a reassuring smile, though the young man did not look assured. As he was about to leave, Tess walked over to him and held out her hand. "Tess Mercer, I've just purchased control of this paper. You must be Clark Kent."

Frowning, Clark shook her hand and asked, "You know who I am?"

"Of course I do. Lex talks about you all the time and I've read your work." She slowly removed her hand from his before confirming, "I'm Lex's half-sister. You must have heard of me."

Before Clark had the chance to respond, the mobile phone started ringing, so he quickly exited the office. Once outside, he rested his head against the wall. He had just met Lex's half-sister and he was so embarrassed; he had seen the way that she had looked at him and he was worried that she now had feelings for him.

**%%**

Clark made his way to Metropolis's The Talon and was glad to see that Lex was not sitting in there, only Oliver, Chloe and Lois. He knew that Kara had taken Matthew, Lewis and Seth to Water World for the day and he was glad that they were bonding with their aunt.

He walked into the café, offered a coffee and walked over to join his friends, sitting down next to Oliver. "I just met Tess Mercer." Clark informed them, "Lex's sister." He added, when both Chloe and Lois looked at him with a blank expression.

Chloe raised her eyebrows in a sarcastic way and asked, "What was she like?"

"Well, she's in charge of the Daily Planet for one thing."

"What?" Lois exclaimed. "What on Earth does she know about journalism and writing, for that matter?" Her attention was occupied with someone else, however, when AC walked into the café. They kissed gently, then Lois turned to her friends and cousin. "Guys, AC and I are officially a couple."

For an unknown reason, Clark felt as if something was rumbling at the pit of his stomach and he forced himself to smile. "So, AC, how come you can swim so quickly?" he was not sure from where this was coming, but he did not like the man, which made no sense.

AC stared at Clark, before sitting down next to Lois and putting his arm around her. "Well, I practically grew up in the water. My dad is a coastguard and my mum…she was an Olympic swimmer."

"Will I have heard of her?" Clark asked, in a cold tone. He received a look from Oliver, but ignored him.

"Yeah, but it was many years ago. She died when I was a baby." AC looked down at the floor, saying that his mum was dead was always harder than he thought it would be. He knew that Lois understood that. "Can you understand that, Clark? What it's like to loose a parent?"

Clark nodded and replied. "Yeah, I can. My biological parents died, so my sister and I were adopted. But, to be fair, you were a baby, right?"

"Ok, er-Clark, I need help with my car. Will you come and help me?" Oliver stood up, giving his friend a look, which gave Clark no choice but to stand up and follow him. Clark knew that this behaviour was not normal of him, but he was following what his instincts were telling him, even though he did not understand why they were telling him to act in such a way.

Lois followed them and, as soon as they were outside, she snapped, "Look, Clark, I don't know what your problem is, but cut it out-now! I really like this guy, so can you please stop being a jerk and be nice? I already have an overprotective dad, I don't want an overprotective brother!" With that, she glared at him and walked back into the café, apologising to AC.

Clark looked to Oliver for support, but Oliver shook his head and snapped, "What the heck is wrong with you, Clark? Seriously, have you taken some sort of Jekyll and Hyde potion? Why were you being such a jerk?"

"I don't know," Clark shook his head, "but I feel really bad."

"Yeah, well you should!" Clark looked at his friend in shock; Oliver had never used that tone of voice with him. "Clark, you don't talk about someone dead parent like that! It'll upset them."

Glaring at his friend, Clark snapped, "Yeah, I know! When I was in high school, when we had to draw family trees, I never knew to put my biological parents and adoptive parents on and it just served as a reminder that I'm not theirs! I can't even remember my biological parents. All I know is what Kara's told me."

There was a silence, then Oliver remarked, "You know what, Clark? You should be grateful that you had two sets of parents who loved you-who still love you-and you have a sister. I get that it may be hard, but you're not alone."

"Neither are you." Clark whispered, as he now understood why Oliver had been so angry with him, because of his parents' death.

Oliver shook his head and muttered, "Yeah, I am, Clark. I mean, I have all of you, but I have no family left." With that, he walked away, leaving Clark feeling incredibly guilty. From inside the café, Chloe watched Clark, guessing what was causing this behaviour and she wondered if Lois had worked it out, or if she thought that he was just being horrible to her boyfriend for no reason.

%%

When they returned home, Chloe asked, "So, did Clark apologise?"

"Yeah, he did. I don't know why he's acting this way; it's not like him at all and I don't understand why he doesn't like AC. But I'm happy."

Chloe turned on the kettle. "You are happy with AC, despite the fact that you left him?"

Sitting down, Lois sighed. "I left AC, not because I didn't love him, but because I wasn't ready for the commitment; I wasn't ready to be somebody's wife. But that doesn't matter anymore, because he and I have agreed that we're going to take it slow. Speaking of which, what's made you smile in that way, Chlo?"

Chloe poured out a cup of coffee for herself and Lois and sat down. "What are you talking about, Lois?"

"Have you ever met Jimmy Olsen? The very cute photographer at the Planet?" Lois laughed triumphantly. "You have and you like him. I know I'm right!"

Blushing, Chloe shook her head. "Lois, I've only met him once." She met her cousin's eyes and knew that she could not lie. "Okay, I did like him; he seemed like a really sweet, talented girl and he sounds like that from what Kara told us about him, but it will come to nothing. Anytime I've ever liked a guy, they've never felt that way about me and that's just depressing, you know?"

A smile spread across Lois's face and she mused, "Well, how about you don't make a move and see if he does? That way you'll know if he feels the same way about you and you won't be the one who's making a move, so it'll save you of the embarrassment. Just think about it."

Clark walked in and Lois jumped up, glaring at him. "Ok, Clark, the next time you're talking to my boyfriend, do not talk to him like that! Do you heard me?"

"Yeah, I know; Oliver already lectured me." Clark looked to Chloe for support, but she shook her head. "Look, Lois, I care about you and I don't want you to get hurt. I just don't trust him. You left him for a reason and that reason's probably still here. If you didn't trust him then, why should you now?"

Lois stared at him, then remarked, "You are unbelievable. You know, if I didn't know any better, I would say that you were jealous." With that, she picked up her coat and walked out of her flat, finding it too hard to face Clark when he was in this mood.

As soon as she was gone, Clark turned to his best friend and asked, "Do you trust AC? I mean, Lois left him for a reason!"

"Clark, I'm not going to discuss my cousin's dating life with you." She paused, then asked, "Clark, why are you suddenly so interested in whom Lois dates?"

Shaking his head, Clark replied, "I'm not. I just don't want to see her get hurt, that's all. And she's wrong, by the way, there's no way I'm jealous." Chloe did not believe him, but she also knew that she had to giv up on the idea of Lois and Clark being together, despite the fact that she and everybody else could see that they belonged together. Before she could express any of this, Clark received a call about a story and he locked his mobile and ran out of the flat.

**%%**

The sight of the accident was already swarming with press and paramedics, but Clark climbed over the wreckage when he saw that there was someone still inside the bus which had collided with a car. He walked over to her and took her in his arms. It was only as their eyes met that he realised that it was Tess. Their eyes remained locked for a moment, then Clark began to walk away from the sight.

"Are you hurt?"

Smiling, she remarked, "If I were, I've forgotten about it now that I'm in your arms, Clark Kent."

Embarrassment filled Clark's entire body and he stopped walking and released her from his arms, as it made him feel far more comfortable. He did not like Tess's face being in such close proximity to his. "Do you want me to take you to Lex's or to hospital?"

Tess nodded. "Yes, please, but first I believe that you have an article to write. I'll go with you and do some work too."

They walked over to Clark's car and drove to the _Daily Planet._

Once there, Clark went over to his computer and began writing a story about the accident, whilst Tess walked over to Perry's office and did some work in there, as Perry was not there. When she walked over to the window of her office, her eyes fell upon Clark and she could not help but be fascinated by him; he was very different from the other men she had ever known. Clark looked up and saw that she was watching him. Unable to help himself, he smiled at her, as he thought that she looked rather lonely; he could not begin to image what her childhood had been like.

Lois and AC walked back to Chloe and Lois's flat after going swimming in a pool in Metropolis. Once inside the flat, they started kissing passionately, but AC stopped and whispered, "We should take this slowly."

Lois agreed and instead, they snuggled on the sofa and watched a film. Once the film was playing, AC asked a question which had been bothering him all day, "Lo, is Clark your ex-boyfriend?" He watched her closely.

Shaking her head, Lois smiled and replied. "No, he isn't. I'm not going to lie, because there was a time when I loved him, but not now. Why do you ask?"

"He seemed to be jealous of me and you, that's all. I thought that there must be some sort of history between the two of you."

"Nothing has ever happened between us and nothing ever will. And as to why Clark was in such a bad mood, maybe he was just having a bad day. Oliver put him in his place and so did I. Besides, I'm with you, aren't I?" She smiled and leaned in to kiss. He kissed her back and ran his hands through her hair affectional, but he was not entirely sure that what Lois had told him had been true; he could see it in her eyes when she was with Clark, even though she did not and Clark was obviously oblivious to his feelings for Lois, which, selfishly, AC was grateful for that. He loved Lois and he wanted to be with her now as much as he had the day he had asked her to marry him.

**%%**

At the _Daily Planet_, Tess walked over to Clark with two cup of coffees in her hands. She placed on in front of him and sat with the other on her knee, warming her hands on them. "How's the story coming?"

"Fine, thanks." Clark replied, without looking at her. He sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just-I.."

"You can speak your mind, Kent." Tess assured him, although she had an idea of what she was going to say.

Clark bit his lip, then sighed. "I guess I think it's strange that you're here and not with your mum."

Tess stood up and her eyes were sparked with fury and Clark was not sure if fury was directed at him or at someone else, but he found her very scary. "Why would I want to go and see the woman who abandoned me? First of all, she didn't tell me who my father and brothers were, she kept me away from Lex when were kids and then she gave me up and I was put into foster care. Why on Earth would I want to see that woman ever again?"

"She's your mother and she's the only one you have, besides, Lex will probably want you to see her."

Looking down at her hands, Tess sighed. "I'll do it for Lex, but I won't do it for her or Lionel. I hate both of them. For what they did to me, and Lex-they lied to us for years. I didn't know who I really was until I was 20. I was happy, I was with someone I loved and all of that was ripped away!" There was a long silence, then Tess whispered, "I've never been able to get over him, the person I was forced to leave and I'll never forgive them for that." She forced a smile. "Now, I believe that I have to meet the gang, as Lex calls them-all of your friends."

Clark and Tess made their way to Chloe and Lois's flat. When the door opened, Lex walked over to Tess and embraced her in a hug. Clark saw Tess's hesitation, but then she closed her eyes and hugged Lex back, embracing him in more than one way and Clark could see the conflict on her face. He could not even begin to image what her life had been like; being raised by her mother, then put into foster care, then to find out that your father was Lionel Luthor, but Clark did not pity her. Tess was a hard person to pity, because she had so much presence and power. His gaze tightened when he saw AC with his arm around Lois. As the group dispersed, Clark asked Chloe were Oliver was and she replied that he was working.

The door opened and Lewis and Matthew ran in, followed by Kara, who looked tired, but refreshed. Chloe gave the children food and made sure that they were alright. Lois indicated for Clark to follow her and he did so. They went outside of the flat and Lois asked, "Have you apologised?"

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Clark remarked, "I really don't like AC. Lois, you left him before-so what's changed."

"What's changed is that I've grown up," Lois hissed, "and I've stopped believing in dreams. You know, Chloe said that you were jealous, but you aren't; you're just being a jerk. Leave my boyfriend alone, Clark. Just go ahead and flirt with Tess."

"What makes you think I like Tess?"

Lois glared at him and snapped, "Clark, I'm not blind. I may not be as pretty or as striking as Ms. Mercer, but I'm not dumb." With that, she turned and walked back inside, leaving Clark even more confused than he had been before.

Back inside the flat, Lois walked over to AC and asked, in a whisper, "How about you and I go for a swim?" He smiled and replied that he would love that. They kissed and made their way to the door.

As AC walked out of the door, Lois's eyes fell on Clark and Tess, who were talking together, talking. She felt a pang in her chest, as she wished that she were in Tess's place, able to have that kind of conversation with Clark. She did not see the conversations she and Clark had and how they looked to an outsider. She closed her eyes and turned away, deciding to focus on her boyfriend.

As Lois turned away and walked out of the door, Clark looked towards her and felt the same surge of that feelings in his chest, though he still did not know what this feeling was. Seeing Lois with AC made him feel that way. He told himself that it was because he did not like AC and did not trust him and he wanted to protect, Lois, because she was one of his best friends. He closed his eyes and turned away, deciding to focus on Tess.

Chloe's eyes flitted between her cousin and her best friend, as she had seen the exchange which they had just shared, albeit unknown to the two of them and she wondered if either of them were ever going to act on their feelings, although Clark had not worked out his feelings for Lois. What she also found hard was that they were both channelling their feelings for each other into dating or flirting with other people-Chloe knew that Lois loved AC, but not in the way that she loved Clark and it broke her heart; she knew that they would be great together.

About an hour later, Chloe approached Kara and asked, "You know your ex-boyfriend, Jimmy? He works with me and I was wondering if-maybe-I could try to…establish a friendship with him? But only if it's ok with you."

Much to her surprise, Kara laughed. "Of course I don't mind. I didn't love Jimmy or anything and he didn't love me, so, yeah. He'll like it if you take it slow." She smiled, then added, "He'll be working there now, in fact."

The lights were on at the Daily Planet, but Chloe knew that no-one was in there besides Jimmy. He was in the basement, watching a black and white film. He paused it when Chloe entered. "Hey, Chloe. What are you doing here?"

Chloe closed the door. "I've spoken to Tess Mercer, the new owner, and she put us on an assignment, which works because you're amazing at what you do, Jimmy. I've followed your work." She added with a smile.

Jimmy stared at her in amazement. "You follow my work?" Chloe nodded and he smiled back. There was a silence, then he asked, "Do you want to join me?"

"Sure?" Chloe nodded and pulled a chair up to sit next to him.

"You're a friend of Kara Kent's, aren't you? She was my girlfriend a while ago. We're friends now, which is good, because I wouldn't have wanted to lose her, you know?" He smiled again.

Chloe nodded, glad that he was being nice about her friend, then she asked, "If you don't mind me asking, why are you here so late on your own at this time of night? Why don't you go home?"

There was a silence, then Jimmy murmured, "It's easier to be here; home has too many ghosts." He forced a smile, then remarked, "I'm looking forward to working with you. You're a very talented journalist."

Nodding, Chloe blushed, then remarked, "I should get going." She stood up and he jumped up, too.

"I can walk you home, if you want."

"Jimmy, I'm fine. I live really close by."

He smiled and shook his head, grabbing his jacket from the chair. "No. I'll walk with you. We can talk about his work we're going to do together." Chloe nodded, accepting defeat, secretly glad, as she really like him.

As the walk to Chloe and Lois's flat came to an end, both Chloe and Jimmy slowed their pace, as they were both enjoying being together so much. Upon reaching the door, they stopped and Chloe leaned against the wall. "Well, here we are. Thanks. Mr. Oslen." She smiled and he smiled back. Their eyes started searching the others and Chloe removed her head from the wall. Jimmy moved his face closer to hers and she did the same, but they both pulled back at that same time, their nerves suddenly failing them. They both erupted into a fit of nervous laughter, then Jimmy bowed his head and smiled, "Goodnight, Miss. Sullivan."

He walked away and looked back over his shoulder. Chloe stood at the door, smiling at him, wondering when he was going to stop looking at her. She waved and he waved back, before turning his attention back to the stairs. A smile spread across Chloe's face and a part of her was glad that she and Jimmy had not kissed, as she wanted to take it slowly.

Lois had been watching from window and she was happy for Chloe; she had spent years pining over Clark, who had never looked at her in that way and now Jimmy looked at her in that way and she him, so Lois knew that it was only a matter of time before Chloe Sullivan and Jimmy Olsen were a couple and she would be as happy as Chloe when that day came.


	14. Chapter 14: Not alone

**I do not own Smallville or any of the charecters. There is not as much Clois in this chapter as there was in the last one, but there will be more soon and their relationship will evolve over time:). Enjoy and, please, review. :)**

Chapter 14: Not alone.

A weak had now passed since Tess had arrived in Metropolis and since Chloe and Jimmy had almost kissed. Chloe and Jimmy were working together on an assignment and were becoming good friends, trusting each other. They knew that the other had feelings for them, but they both wanted to take their relationship slowly and establish their friendship before they started a relationship. Clark and Tess now had a good working relationship and he had persuaded her to go and see her mother, for which Lex was grateful. Despite being with AC, Lois was jealous of Clark and Tess becoming closer, even though she would not admit it to anyone, even herself.

Clark was concerned about Oliver, as he had not seen him and he wondered if he did not like Tess for some reason. He wanted to ask his friends about it, but he had not had the chance.

On a Monday morning, Lois walked into the Daily Planet and she stunned and shocked to see Clark sitting in her chair. She texted AC to tell him, then walked over and asked, "Smallville, what are you doing here?" The two of them had not really spoken to each other since that evening at Chloe's, when they had argued; Lois had not wanted to go near him, because she wanted to focus on her relationship with AC, not with her could-been relationship with Clark.

Clark smiled and replied, "We're working together today. Tess is going to fly us out in an hour." With the mention of Tess's name, he saw something in Lois's eyes change and he wondered what the reason was. He was offended that she had avoided him for the past week, but he thought that she did not like the fact that he had been rude to her boyfriend. He still did not like AC, but he could not work out why and it bothered him; he had never disliked someone in that way before, as if the very feeling of it would rip his chest in half.

His thoughts were interrupted and distracted when Tess walked over to them and remarked, "Change of plan, Lane. Kent and I are going on this assignment together, so you can get back to your work."

Inside, Lois felt herself die, as she had wanted to be with Clark, to talk to him, but she knew that she could not show this to Clark or Tess, so she remarked, in a casual voice, "That's fine; Clark's a terrible flyer anyway." She walked away. Tess smiled to herself, as she, like Chloe, knew what was going on between Lois and Clark, but she was glad that Clark had no knowledge of his feelings for Lois, because she wanted to be with him.

An hour later, Clark and Tess boarded a LuthorCorp plane and sat down. Clark was nervous, as he had never been in a plane before and he was trying to hide his nerves from Tess, whom he knew was watching him closely.

"How's your mother?" he asked, as he passed her a glass of wine, as she had requested.

Tess rubbed the glass in her hand, then had a drink and sighed. "She's-ok, but she doesn't have long. I swear if it weren't for Lex and you, I wouldn't have gone to see her." She bit her lip. "A part of me still hates her, for what she did to me, for lying to me for all of those years and then giving me up. One of the foster homes I was in-they treated me terribly. I was 13 and every time I would hear my foster father come into my room, I hid under the covers, pretending to be a mermaid, waiting for my prince to come and save me. He and my foster mother were arrested and I was placed with another family. I had no fixed place in life and that was all because she wasn't willing to admit her sins." There were tears running down her face and she wiped them away, slowly.

Clark sighed. "You know, my sister and I were adopted; our birth parents died when I was three and she was five. I can't remember either of them, I love my parents, but there are so many questions I want to ask them, about who they were and they would think of me. The man I've become."

"I can understand that," Tess whispered, smiling, "but you're lucky that you were loved and still are loved."

There was a silence, then Clark inquired, "Do you know Oliver Queen, CEO of Queen Industries? You may have played with him when you were kids."

Shaking her head, Tess had another sip of wine. "I was never permitted to play with the children-I guess, because my mother and Lionel didn't want me to spend time with Lex, just incase I should have worked out who I really was. But I was in a foster home with Oliver for a couple of years."

"Oliver was in foster care?" Clark asked, in shock and horror; he had always assumed that Oliver had been cared for by another family member or a designated guardian; he had never imaged that Oliver, since had he had been 10, had lived the same life as Tess. It was morbidly ironic.

Lois was on a break and she was texting AC, teasing each other. Clark had texted her a couple of times before his departure. She had read them, but refused to reply.

"Hey, Lois." She looked up and saw Oliver, in his business suit. He was about to ask her something, but saw the look on her face and asked, "Are you ok?" He considered Lois as one of his closest friends and did care about her, despite having had feelings for her in the past.

Lois locked her phone and sighed. "I don't get it. Why does Clark act like such a jerk around AC? He acts as if he hates him or something."

Oliver hesitated, as he was not sure what he should or should not say. "Your one of his best friends, he cares about you."

"Yeah, but so are you and you don't treat AC like dirt!" Lois ran her hands through her hair. "I guess, the thing is, I'm starting to have doubts about my relationship with AC. Clark was right-and Chloe-I left him for a reason and I think a part of that reason is still there. What do I do?"

Sitting down, Oliver replied, "Well, if you're unhappy with him, end it; it isn't fair to him-or you-if you keep pretending that everything's fine and it isn't. Or you could talk to him about your doubts, see if he dispels about of them." He paused, then asked, "Do your doubts have anything to do with Clark?"

Lois shook her head. "No. I'm not breaking up with him because I'm fantasying about Clark, that isn't it at all." She was telling the truth, but she was not sure if Oliver believed her. "AC's my first love and I have that connection, that bond with him, you know and my feelings for Clark have nothing to do with this, but AC thought that Clark and I were exs." She sighed, then whispered, "I really am so sorry about what happened to Estrella, Oliver. I know how much you meant to each other. Did you love her?"

"Yes." Her friend replied, with no hesitation in his voice.

"How did you know that you loved her?"

Oliver laughed nervously and looked down at the floor. "She told me she loved me and said it back. I didn't think about it, it was instinct." His smile faded and he whispered, "Lois, when you're with the right person, you'll know. Anyway, I have to get back to work. I'll see you later." He smiled and walked away. Lois watching him, walking away, wondering how he was able to smile when the woman he loved had, to her knowledge, been murdered and she wondered how he was able to move on with his life so easily, though she did know that he had dated anyone since Estrella's death. Her death had been all over the papers, but her relationship with Oliver had not been mentioned and that was because it had not been public knowledge.

Oliver walked to the Isis Foundation, as he knew that that was where Chloe was. "What's up?" she asked him, upon seeing that he was troubled.

Sitting down, her friend replied, "Clark's jealous of AC-or the fact that he's with Lois-but he isn't aware of it and I'm not sure if Lois is really aware of it either. Do you think that we should do something, to make them realise how they feel about each other? I mean, Lois knows, but Clark doesn't."

"You can't do that." Kara walked into the room, fixing Oliver with a glare. "You cannot do that to him."

"What? Make him realise that he has feelings for Lois?" Chloe asked, with a slight irritation in her voice. "Look, I've watched my cousin and Clark together since they met and since the moment they met, there's a connection between them, which none of us can really understand. They have feelings for each other and I care about both of them, so shouldn't we give them that chance?"

Kara shook her head. "No. Lois is with AC, isn't she? Besides, Clark still isn't over Lana and how she left him. He has three kids to look after and they should be his main priority."

Oliver sighed and inquired, "So, you're saying that you don't want your brother and Lois to be together?"

"No, I do want them to be together, but when it happens, I want it to be because Clark has worked it out himself, on his terms, and not yours. All I want is my brother's happiness. He could be happy with Lois; we just need to give it time and hope that Clark will wake up and finally see how much he cares about Lois."

"I suppose the fact that Lex is with Victoria doesn't help." Chloe remarked, in a cruel voice; she would not have brought up the topic before, but she knew Clark and she knew that he was not very attuned into his feelings and, if left to his own devices, he may never work out his feelings for Lois.

There was a silence and Kara glared at Chloe. "I'm happy for Lex, but, no, I don't like Victoria, but I have to live with it. By the way, I saw you and Jimmy a weak ago; he's been through a lot, Chloe, so don't toy with him. You owe him at least that much!" With that, she walked away, slamming the door as she left the room.

Chloe sat down next to Oliver and asked, "Do you think she's right?" Before Oliver replied, she asked, "Wait, does Clark know about your history with Tess?"

Oliver shook his head. "No, I haven't told him."

"Do you not think that you should tell him?"

"No, there's no point in digging up feelings for the past," he smiled and asked, "So, what's this Jimmy like?" He laughed and Chloe laughed, too, blushing, before replying, "He's a photographer who I'm working with at the moment. He's really sweet and I like him. We nearly kissed a week ago, so I know that he likes me. I wanted to kiss him, but my nerves got the better of me."

Biting his lip, Oliver frowned. "Chloe, if you know he likes you and you feel the same way about him, why don't you ask him out?" Seeing the hesitation in her face, he added, "I thought that I had loads of time with Estrella, but I didn't. You never know what's around the corner, not that I think that Jimmy's going to do what she did, but you know what I mean."

Later that evening, after returning from their assignment, Clark and Tess made their way to Chloe and Lois's flat and Clark was surprised to find only Lois and Lex there. Lex explained that Oliver was at work and the other two were buying pizza for dinner. As Tess walked over to the kitchen, her eyes met Clark and they shared a look, before she hid her face behind her hair. Lois saw this exchange and she felt a pang of jealousy in her chest. How come Clark was willing to look at Tess in that way, but not her? She saw Lex looking at her symmetrically, so he had seen her watching Clark and his half-sister, but Lois did not mind; the person she wanted to see her looking was Clark and he was never going to look at her in that way.

"So, Lex, how's Victoria?" Clark asked, as he sat down next to Lois on the sofa and Lois quickly moved so that there was reasonable amount of distance between the two of them.

Lex smiled sadly at Lois's reaction, then turned his attention back to Clark. "She's great, thanks, Clark. I think it may work with her. I'm thinking of asking her to move in with me in a couple of weeks."

"Do you love her?" Lois asked, unable to resist.

Shrugging, Lex answered, "I care about her. I don't love her, but she makes me happy, so that's what matters." When he saw the sceptical look on both Lois and Clark's faces, he added, "She may not be the love of my life, but sometimes, you have to take a risk and have faith that you'll make the right choices." His eyes met with Lois's with an understanding of what he was trying to tell her.

This moment was broken when Tess walked over to them and whispered, "Lex, Pamela wants us at the hospital." Lex nodded, understanding that meant that Pamela was going to die soon, so he stood up, grabbed his coat and walked out of the flat with his sister.

Once at Metropolis General Hospital, the two of them froze in their seats, aware of what they were going to have to deal with and Tess felt a great sense of guilt for shutting her mother out for the past six years; they had been very close when she had been a child, before Pamela had given her up for adoption. Lex took hold of her hand and squeezed it. Their eyes met and, for the first time since they had discovered that they were brother and sister, they were glad of their father's infidelity, as it meant that they had each other. They had someone who could understand what they were going through and someone whom they could trust with their lives.

Pamela's room was in the centre of the hospital. At the door, Tess closed her eyes, inhaled a deep breath and pictured her mother as she had been when she had been a child, when Tess had loved her and thought that she was the best person in the entire world. Lex opened the door and allowed his half-sister to walk into the room, before following her.

Tess, who was not easily shocked, stopped in her tracks as she saw her mother in such a way, but before she could say anything, the elder woman held out both of her hands and Lex immediately walked over to her and took on, holding her hands as if they were a precious commodity. Very slowly, Tess walked to the other side of the bed and inhaled a deep breath. She picked up her mother's hand and squeezed it make sure that this was real. Their eyes met and Tess saw so much of herself reflected in this woman.

Pamela smiled at her daughter and whispered, "My dear, dear Lutessa. So beautiful and so intelligent. I may have given you up, but I never stopped watching you."

Finally able to find her voice, Tess inquired, "Why do you call me by that name, Lutessa? It isn't my name?"

"It was your name, my dear." Pamela sat up against the pillows, keeping hold of both her daughter's hand her and her stepson. "When you were born, Tess, I named you Lutessa Luthor. That was the name on your birth certificate. But your father...he told me that I couldn't call you that and if I kept your name as it was, he would take you away from me, so I was forced to change it and I gave you my surname, because he didn't want anyone to know that you were his daughter. Lionel was happy with that until you were ten, when he was worried that you and Lex may work out who you really were, so he-he took you from me. I had no choice in the matter and I had no power to try to find you, he'd taken it all from me."

"Do you expect me to believe that? Do you have any idea how I was treated?" Tess hissed, but she saw the look in her mother's eyes and she knew that what she told her had been the truth. Inhaling a deep breath, she murmured, "I'm so sorry, Mum. I love you. You know that."

Pamela raised her hand from Tess's hand and up to her daughter's face, where she wiped away the tear. Stocking her face, she whispered, "I love you too, my darling." She smiled, then turned her head wearily to Lex. "Alexander, I love you like my own son."

Lex sat down on the chair, squeezing her hand. "I know that, Pam. I've always know that. I know that you didn't mean to betray my mother."

There was a silence, then Pamela whispered, "I'm proud of you-of both of you-you've turned into the young man and woman I knew you always could be. Promise me one thing, Lutessa, Alexander-look after each other and stand up to that father of yours-together, you're a formidable force. Promise me."

Lex kissed his stepmother's hand and nodded. Pamela turned her head back to her daughter, who was fighting back tears. She rested her hand on her mother's on her face and whispered, "I promise, Mum."

A smile spread across Pamela's face and she lay still. Lex bowed his head and muttered a prayer, whilst Tess stood where she was, feeling alone and wondering what to do next.

About ten minutes later, Lex called Clark and told him that Pamela was dead and that he and Lionel were sorting out funeral arrangements. Clark could hear the pain in his friend's voice and felt guilty that there was nothing he could do to help, as he did care about Lex and Tess. When he told his friends, he saw the pain in her eyes and suddenly remembered that her mother had died when she had been young and he felt guilty about not being more sensitive.

When Clark left, Oliver sat down next to Lois and asked, in a gentle voice, "You ok, Lois?"

Pulling herself out of her thoughts, his friend nodded and replied, "Yeah, I'm fine." She sighed, knowing that Oliver already knew what was bothering her. "I guess- I can understand what Tess is going through, after what happened to my mum and I'm sure that you can as well. I was so young. I wish I'd had more time with her." A tear escaped her eyes and Lois never cried in public. Oliver moved closer to her and put his arms around her, as she cried into his chest, for Tess's loss, but also for her own loss.

Tess sat in her mother's room in the Luthor Mansion in Metropolis. Slowly, she stood up and walked over to the draw. She picked up a scarf and sniffed it and, finding that it had the smell of her mother which she remembered, inhaled a deep breath and closed her eyes, holding the memories which she had of her mother tight inside her head, hoping to keep them looked in there. She put down the scalf, then found a photograph of her as a baby, with her mother.

"Her room has a smell about it doesn't it?" Tess jumped and turned around to see her father, Lionel Luthor, standing at the door. He walked into the room. "Lex and I are arranging the funeral. Do you want to help us, she was your mother after all?"

A sense of fury filled Tess's chest and she hissed, "You forced her to change my name, you took me away from her, but you married her. Why?"

Lionel ran his hands across his face and answered, "I was trying to protect you and Lex; I didn't want you to find out who you really were to protect you."

"You're lying." Tess whispered, with hatred in her eyes and she walked over to him. "You did it to cover up your own tracks-the fact that you'd cheated on your wife and I was the evidence of that affair. That's why I wasn't allowed to have your surname, that's why you put me up for adoption. You are incapable of love or understanding other people. You don't care about me or Lex, or Mum-the only person you care about-have ever cared about-is yourself." She kept eye contact with him, to let him know that she was not intimidated by him, then she walked out of the room, holding the photograph close to her chest.

Once in The Talon, knowing that her father was not going to go after her, Tess sat down, offered a cup of coffee and looked at the photo. Her mother looked so much like her and Tess worked out that Pamela would have been that much older than her when she had been. She shuddered at what her mother had done, but Lionel had been the one who had been married, with a child, not her mother.

"Tess?" Clark's gentle voice came from behind her. He sat down next to her and she smiled, very glad that he had come to find her.

There was a long silence, then Tess whispered, "He was the one who gave me up for adoption-not my mother. She loved me and she wanted to keep me, but he wanted to keep the stink off the Luthor name. I remember how I felt when I discovered who I really was. I was distraught, because I'd heard of these stories about the Luthors and how they corrupt anything they touch. Meeting Lionel confirmed that, but not Lex-he's shown me that, even if you're a Luthor, you can still be a good person. Do you want to know the most prevented part about this? I'm actually angry with Lionel, because he didn't raise me, because he gave me up. I'm alone in the world, my mother's dead."

Slowly, Clark took hold of her hand and squeezed it. She looked up and their eyes met. "You're not alone anymore you have Lex and you have me. We're all the family you need." He smiled. Tess smiled back, then, suddenly, kissed Clark passionately. When he did not kiss her back, she pulled away and looked at him questioningly. There was something in Clark's stomach which was telling him that kissing Tess was not the right thing to do, but he pushed that thought away and kissed her back, closing his eyes.

That feeling in Clark's stomach had been the fear of Lois seeing them and Lois did see. She stood outside, watching them, and a hatred of Tess surfaced. Deciding to do something productive with this anger, she walked to the Daily Planet and wrote a story.

In the early hours of the morning, Clark found her asleep and he saw the tear-marks on her face. He sighed, wondering what he had caused her to cry so much, before carefully picking her up and carrying her back to his car to drive her home. As he placed her in the back seat, he brushed his fingers over his fridge and felt as if he were being electrocuted. He smiled to himself, then walked to the front of the car.


	15. Chapter 15: Negatio

**I do not own Smallville. Enjoy and, please, review. Let me know what you think. What would you like to happen between Chloe and Jimmy? Clark and Tess's relationship will end soon and Lois and Clark will be together:)**

**In the next chapter: Lois and Clark are going to be on a stake-out, in a hotel together:)**

Chapter 15: Negatio (Latin for denial)

Pamela's funeral was a very quiet one, one at which only her closest friends and family were in attendance. Oliver went, because he had known Pamela since he had been a child and Clark went, because he and Tess were now a couple and he wanted to support her.

After the funeral, the wake was held at Lionel's house and guests were invited to that. Lex had managed to convince Lois and Chloe to go and they had both brought a guest; Lois had brought AC and Chloe had brought Jimmy.

As Clark made his way through the crowds of people, he noticed that his girlfriend was sitting alone, with her arms wrapped around her and she was looking very distressed. He was about to walk over to her, but Oliver walked over to her.

"How are you holding up?" he asked, in a gentle voice. He could tell that she was still in shock over the death of her mother.

Tess looked up and she was shocked to see Oliver standing there, as she had expected it to be Clark, considering that he was her boyfriend. She forced a smile and replied, "I'm…ok, thank you, Oliver. I guess, you understand what I'm going through."

Oliver bit his lip and murmured, "Yeah, I do. All too well." Discussing his parents and his parents' death had always been hard for him, even though they had been dead for sixteen years. He sighed and asked, "Is there anything I can do?"

"Yes-you can leave me alone." Their eyes met and Tess glared at him. "Clark and I are a couple now," she added in an icy voice, "and I'm very happy with him. Are you seeing anyone at the moment, I'm sure that you are, considering that it's you." She fixed him with another cold stare.

"I did have a girlfriend, but she died," Oliver replied, in a quiet voice, before nodding politely and walking away, as being around Tess had been harder than he thought it would be.

Clark walked over to Tess, with a plate of food and he sat down next to her. "You haven't eaten anything all day," he told her in a soft voice, "you should eat something, Tess." He squeezed her hand and passed her a sandwich, which she took delicately in her hand.

"Thank you, Clark." She swallowed her bite, then turned to face him. "I'm sorry; I'm not being a very good girlfriend today."

Shaking his head, Clark squeezed her hand again. "Tess, you've just lost your mother, I don't expect you to be doing anything besides getting through this, however you want to do it. But I'm here for you, as your friend and your boyfriend, you know that."

Tess smiled and leaning in closer, kissing him gently. Their lips parted and she smiled and he smiled back, before she whispered, "I'm very glad that you're my brother's best friend, Clark Kent." She smiled again, then asked, "What are we going to do when I return to work?"

Laughing slightly, Clark answered "We'll have to be professional and keep our personal life for outside of work, although I don't think that Perry will be very happy." He paused, then added, "I'm worried about Lois; she doesn't seem to be herself lately."

Biting her lip, Tess sighed; she knew what was wrong with Lois and she did feel a bit guilty about causing such pain, but she knew that she could not tell Clark this, so she remarked, "She lost her mother, didn't she? Maybe this is bringing back memories for her? I know that it is for Oliver." Her eyes fell on Oliver and she smiled sadly.

Meanwhile, Chloe and Jimmy were sitting together, but Jimmy was being very quiet and Chloe was beginning to be worried about him, as he was never usually this quiet. "Are you ok?"

Jimmy sighed and forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks, Chloe." He knew that they were taking their time with their relationship, but he did trust her, so he decided to be honest with her. "I guess being here is hard for me. My-er-my brother passed away a couple of months ago. That's why I was at the _Planet_ late that night, because everything in my home reminds me of him and sometimes that's too much to bear. Can you understand that?"

"I've never lost anyone I loved to death…but my mother did walk out on me and my dad when I was little, so I do kind of understand." She said it in a very careful voice. She paused, then added, "I'm glad that you trust me, Jimmy. You mean a lot to me."

Smiling a genuine smile and nodded. "Well, you mean a lot to me too, Chloe and I'm glad that we're taking things slowly." Their eyes met and they both felt the urge to lean forward and kiss the other, but neither of them had the courage to do, in fear that they would embarrass themselves.

They sat in silence for a while, then Jimmy asked, "So, how long have Clark and Lois been a couple?" When Chloe looked at him as if he were crazy, he frowned, "What? They are a couple…aren't they? They work so well together."

"Lois and Clark aren't a couple, Jimmy; they're both dating other people. Although, I do wish that they would get together." Chloe admitted, a fact with which she was more comfortable now that she and Jimmy were friends.

Jimmy blushed and asked, "Chloe, is Clark an ex of yours? I see the way you look at him, the way Lois looks at him."

Sighing, Chloe shook her head and answered, "No, Clark's my best friend. There was a time when I wanted to be with him more than anything, but not anymore." She made eye contact with him, wanting him to understand what she was saying, what she was thinking, without her having to say it out load.

Understanding what Chloe was saying, Jimmy slowly squeezed one of her hands and murmured, "Well, that's Clark's loss-not yours. If I were in his position, I would have noticed you years ago and asked you out." He smiled and Chloe smiled back, wondering if she should ask him out on a date or kiss him, but she decided against it because she did not want to take that step yet, even though she had very strong feelings for Jimmy and she wondered if he was thinking the same thing.

The next morning, when Lois walked out of her bedroom for breakfast, she asked, "So, Chlo, did you have a good time with bow-tie man?"

Rolling her eyes, Chloe insisted. "Jimmy and I are just friends."

"I didn't ask that." retorted her cousin, with a triumphant tone in her voice and a certain look in her eyes, indicating that she could read her cousin like a book and she understood her feelings for Jimmy. She sat down, with a cup of coffee, watching Chloe, waiting for her to admit it.

There was a silence, then Chloe sighed and conceded defeat. "Ok, I do like him. I really like him. I just don't want to rush into things. Does that sound stupid?"

Lois shook her head and smiled softly. "No, it doesn't; you want to build up a friendship with him, before you…wade it too deep. That's what I tried to do with Clark." She bit her lip and continued, "Clark's my best friend, first and foremost and anything else-any other feelings I have for him-are secondary to those feelings. They have to be, or I would go crazy. Seeing him with Tess…is harder than I thought it would be, because they're obviously so attracted to each other, but I have to deal with that, put my feelings aside and focus on being happy for my friend. Besides, I don't think that their relationship will last for that long; it's a purely physical connection and after that's fizzled out, there'll be nothing left."

There was a silence which was broken when the door opened and Clark and Oliver walked in. Lois jumped up and asked, "Smallville, what are you doing here?"

Clark sat down and replied, "We just thought we'd come and see if you girls wanted to go to the beach for the day." Lois replied that she had plans with AC. That name was like a stab to Clark's heart and he moved uncomfortably. Chloe and Oliver noticed this, but Lois did not and Chloe internally rolled her eyes. Why did her cousin never see things which could lead to her and Clark getting together? Was destiny working against them?

Victoria walked into Lex's flat and closed the door behind her, calling Lex's name. He appeared, holding a box and a bottle of wine. "Lex, what are you doing?"

They sat down and Lex replied, "I've got you some wine, my lady, Have you spoken to your father?"

"Yes. Sir. Harry sends his regards to you and your family. I'm so sorry I couldn't be there, Lex." She stroked his check, then added, "He was not very happy about the prospect of you and I living together when we aren't marry. You know, Daddy-always into traditional values." She laughed, but Lex's face remained serious.

Fiddling with the box in his hands, he remarked, "Well, maybe we can do something to rectify that-make it so that he is happy with our relationship." He kissed her gently, then opened the book to reveal a diamond ring.

A smile spread across Victoria's face and she looked into Lex's eyes and whispered, "If that's what I think it is, then my answer's yes, Lex." They shared a kiss, then Lex slipped the ring onto her finger and they kissed again.

Half an hour later, Victoria was on the phone to her family and Lex made his way to Chloe and Lois's, because he knew that Clark was there and he guessed that Tess was there too. He walked in and found no Tess, but Clark was there, so walked in and smiled, looking very happy.

"What is it, Lex? You look really happy?" Clark asked, as he sat down with his second breakfast. Lois had taken her breakfast over to the sofa and was eating it there, as she wanted to be as far away from Clark as possible.

A smile spread across Lex's face again and he walked over to his best friend. "I asked Victoria to marry me and she accepted." His eyes met Oliver's and he could see the disgust in the other man's eyes, but he decided to ignore it. "I wanted to ask you to be my best-man, Clark."

The shock on Clark's face was evident, but he stood up and shook Lex's hand. "Lex, I'd be honoured. Thank you so much. Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, I want to spend the rest of my life with her, when you find the right person, it all becomes clear and I believe that Victoria is that person. Do you know where Tess is, I haven't told her yet?"

Clark told Lex where Tess was, so he left to find his sister and Chloe left to go and get some coffee from The Talon, leaving Lois, Clark and Oliver alone. Oliver walked over to the window, with a book and sat in the window seat, separating himself from his two friends, as he sensed that Lois and Clark wanted to talk to each other.

Lois stood up and slowly walked over to Clark, who had sat back down and he was frowning and looked rather distressed. "Are you ok, Smallville?" she asked, noting the fact that Oliver was leaving the two of them alone.

Sighing, Clark replied, "Yeah, it's just, Lex has rushed into this relationship"-

"And you're worried that he's gone in too deep too quickly with Victoria and you don't want him to get hurt again, like he did with Dessiree." Lois finished his sentence for him, as she had guessed the cause of his discomfort. He turned to face her slowly and, much to her surprise, a smile spread across his face and he murmured, "Lois, there are times when I think that you know and understand me better than anyone. You're a good friend, Lois."

There was a dead silence, as their eyes met and their eyes searched each other's, before Lois broke the eye contact and remarked, in a humours tone, "Well, someone has to keep you in check." She smiled, but she could still see Clark's eyes searching hers, but Clark was not even aware that this was happening, he had no idea about his feelings for Lois.

Clark suddenly stood and mumbled that he had something to do, he grabbed his coat and walked out of the door.

Turning to Oliver, who had been listening to the entire conversation, Lois asked, "Why does he do that? Why does he act as if he's about to say something and then he stops? I don't know how Tess puts up with him."

Oliver stood up and walked over to her, putting down his book. "He cares about you, Lois, that much is clear." He knew that there a part of her which would not believe him, but he hoped that a part of her would understand and understand that Clark did have feelings for her. He just was not aware of them.

The door opened and AC walked in. There was a certain look in his eyes which Lois did not find reassuring and she walked over him, asking if he was alright. He replied that he was, but that he needed to talk to her. Lois nodded and replied that she needed to get changed, so she went to her bedroom.

AC walked over to Oliver and asked, "You've known Lois for a long time, haven't you?"

"About as long as you-I met her when she was 18." answered Oliver, wondering why AC was asking him, but the other man did seem to be troubled.

A short breath escaped AC's breath. He glanced towards Lois's bedroom and whispered, "To be honest, I'm not sure if I can do this anymore; I don't think that I can be with her anymore. I think that our relationship was what it was when were 18 and now we need to move and accept that and just be friends. Do you know what I mean?"

Before Oliver had the chance to reply, Lois walked out of her bedroom and suggested to AC that the two of them went to the beach. AC agreed, kissed her, then led her out of the room. Oliver watched him closely, hoping that he was not going to break Lois's heart, as he knew how much Lois cared about AC.

As soon as they were at the beach, AC inhaled a deep breath, as he stepped out of the car, as he knew that this was hardest thing he would ever have to do in his entire life. He and Lois stood at the water's side and he took hold of her hands, before beginning, "I've joined the Navy and I'm being shipped out in less than hour."

"How long are you going to be gone for?"

"I don't know," he hesitated, "but I don't think that it would be fair on either us for me to ask you to wait for me. Let's face it, Lois, our relationship isn't what it was when we met and I'm glad that we've had this time together"-

"You want to end it." Lois finished, in an indifferent voice. She was dying inside, but she did not want to show it. She did not want him to know how much he meant to her, now that he was leaving.

There was a silence and AC whispered, "You and I aren't destined to be together, Lois, but…why don't you give Oliver a try?" He laughed and so did she, as they were both trying to mask the heartbreak they were both feeling. He placed his hand on her check, leaned in and kissed her and she kissed him back, closing her eyes.

After a while, their lips parted and they stood in silence, before Lois murmured, "I hope you find what you're looking for, AC."

"You too." His head dropped from her face and he backed away from her and then walked away, forcing himself not to look back, no matter how much he wanted to. Never look back.

Unknown, from a distance, Clark stood watching their goodbye and AC walking away. As the other man walked away, Clark felt a deep sense of joy filling his body; he was glad that AC was leaving, but he did not know why he was so glad, he just knew that he was. He knew that he cared about Lois and that she cared about him, but he was still glad that her boyfriend had left.

"Clark?" he turned and saw Chloe and his friend gave him a sceptical look and asked, "Why do you look so happy?"

Trying to hide his smile, Clark answered, "Well, AC's left. He and Lois have finished and I'm glad because-because I don't think that he was good for Lois, even though she loved him. She's far better off without him."

Chloe bit her lip and sighed. "Clark, you and Lois tell each other things you've never told anyone else, right? Well, Clark, you only do that when you…" she trailed off, as something suddenly occurred to her. Without finishing her sentence, she walked away and pulled out her mobile phone.

That evening, Oliver's plane landed and he was glad to be back in Metropolis, as he had hated the party he had attended. As soon as it had finished, he had changed from a suit and tie into jeans and a hoodie. As he was tidying away the files from the party into his bag, the door opened and Chloe walked in, looking rather distressed and she remarked, "You know, Oliver, for a guy with three mobile phones, you are very hard to track down and get a hold of."

Deciding to ignore her comment, Oliver asked, "Chloe, what're you doing here? I've only just got back."

Chloe walked more into the plane and nodded. "Yeah, I know. Listen, I was just talking to Clark and telling him that, if you have feelings for someone, you sometimes open up to them more than you would to anyone else, right?" When Oliver looked at her blankly, she rolled her eyes inwardly and continued, in a careful voice, "You open up to me about your past, about your family, more than you do to anyone else. Do you have feelings for me?"

Her friend turned to her and smiled. "No offense, but no, I don't. You're one of my best friends and I see you as…kind of a sister. Why were you having this conversation with Clark, anyway?" he asked, releasing Chloe from her embarrassment which he could tell she was feeling, as he did not want her to be embarrassed.

Sitting down in one of the chairs, Chloe answered, "AC left o join the Navy and broke up with Lois, but I think that it was a mutual agreement, if that doesn't sound weird. Clark was pleased that AC left, but he still hasn't worked out why." She and Oliver laughed, then she added, "I do have a confession, Ollie. When we first met, at Thanksgiving those years ago, I did have a crush on you."

Much to her relief, he laughed and told her that he had thought that she had been pretty too. It was a conversation which only two friends who were entirely sure of where they stood with each other could have, those who had a platonic relationship. It was a conversation which Lois and Clark could not have.

Clark returned home and was surprised that Oliver was not home, but Lex was there, looking after Matthew, Lewis and Seth. Smiling, his friend remarked, "You're very lucky to have them, Clark. Even though they don't have Lana, they have you."

Hanging up his coat, Clark walked over to his friend and asked, "Have you told Kara that you're engaged?"

Lex shook his head. "No, not yet. I haven't seen her since we agreed it." He sighed, and added, "Clark, if you're worried that I'm rushing into this too quickly, don't worry. I know what I'm doing. I don't love Victoria, but marrying her is easy, it will please my father, and I do care about her and she cares about me. I know that you think that a marriage should be because the two people love each other and, quite frankly, I agree, but after what happened with Dessire, I don't think that I can open myself up to anyone in that way."

There was a silence, then Clark murmured, "I'm sorry you feel that way, Lex. I was torn apart by what happened with Lana, but I've finally managed to move on. Maybe you'll come to love Victoria. I hope you do." Without saying anything, Lex nodded and left the flat, leaving Clark worrying about his friend. He did not understand why Lex would marry someone whom he did not love and he was also worried about Kara's reaction when she found out that Lex was engaged to be married again. Clark knew that his sister had feelings for Lex and he wished that he could spare her of the pain of watching him marry again.

He walked into his sons' bedrooms, helped Matthew and Lewis change into their pyjamas, changed Seth and said goodnight to each of them, but Matthew and Lewis wanted him to read a story to them, so he picked up a book, sat on Lewis's bed and read to them, as they watched him in awe, fighting sleep.

Half an hour later, they were asleep and Clark was still sitting on Lewis's bed. He stood up and stroked Lewis and Matthew's heads before kissing them goodnight, then he did the same to Seth.

The door opened and Lois walked in. Seeing the book in his hands, she smiled and remarked, "I read that to Lucy every night for about a year. Our dad was never one for reading bed-time stories. Are you good at reading it?"

Smiling back, Clark answered, "For my sons' sake, I hope so." He paused, then added, "I do worry about them-growing up with Lana, I mean. Without their mother."

"They have you, Smallville. That's more than Oliver had, and you're a good father. You love them more than anything, so it's Lana loss." Lois's eyes fell on the sleeping baby and she wondered how Lana had been able to leave such a beautiful children; she knew that if they were hers, she would never be able to leave their sides, but she banished that thought quickly from her mind.

Clark bit his lip, looking down at his book. "Lois, I'm sorry about how I was with AC. He was a good guy. I was just looking out for you, because you're my friend."

Sighing, Lois remarked, "Thanks, but I can take care of myself. I mean, AC's gone now, so you don't have to worry about me anymore. He was my first love and…I cared about him." She turned away and leant against the door frame. "How I am ever going to meet someone like that again?" She bit her lip and closed her eyes briefly before opening them again, looking out at Oliver and Clark's living room.

Slowly, Clark stood up and walked over to Lois. Putting his hand on her shoulder, he said, "Lois, I promise, that you will meet someone even more special someday. I promise." He squeezed her shoulder in order to comfort her. She turned and gave him a small smile, showing that she appreciated his support and she did. Besides anything else, he was a good friend and she did not want to loose that.


End file.
